Sand Stained Red
by scribbles-in-the-margins
Summary: [MABU] The stand alone Sequal to Water Runs Red. Someone or Something is on the move and MABU forces are stretched thin. Kamizuki Izumo is the only Agent there and things are not going well.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to the return to the MABU universe. If you have not read the first installment of MABU (Water Runs Red), it isn't necessary, but I would recommend it (of course I would, I'm the Author). This book starts approximately one year into the time skip.

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few jus slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter 1

The desert sun beat down on Izumo as he tried to find shelter. He had accomplished his mission, although he had been injured and used too much chakra. The information he had been sent to retrieve was in his memory, but if he didn't survive to report, the mission would be a failure. He couldn't risk writing it down incase an enemy found his corpse. Izumo was in trouble and without any backup, he couldn't think of a way out of this that didn't involve his death. He had to find a way to fulfill his mission, Konohagakure needed this information.

It had been a one-month mission that had turned into three long months of hiding and sneaking around the seedy underbelly of the country of Rain. He had been deep in enemy territory with most of Rain and all of Grass between him and his home of Fire. When things had gone bad, he had no choice but to run towards Wind. Even all these years after the wars, Rock would kill a leaf shinobi on sight. Better to make his break towards an Ally even if their territory was dangerous for someone not used to the desert.

He had gotten a few preliminary reports back to Leaf, but the majority of the information had only been obtained in the last week. He didn't know if Orochimaru had people after him or not. The Sound leader had men infiltrated through most of Rain and Grass and if rumors were to be believed, Sound even had secret treaties with Rock. He had tried to make his getaway from Rain a clean one. He didn't think he had left anyone alive that could have given away his identity, but with Sound it was wise to never underestimate them. The body count on this mission had far surpassed what he had expected.

He found a small depression in a rock face before he passed out from the heat and the unrelenting sun. It wasn't much shelter, but it was at least out of the unforgiving sun. He was out of water and had no idea how to find more in this inhospitable desert. If he could find a sand shinobi, he had a chance, even though the recently formed alliance was new, it was also strong. The new Kazekage was that strange red haired boy from the chuunin exams last year. Izumo didn't know the details, but somehow that loudmouthed brat that Iruka was so fond of had gotten through to the red haired killer and now there was a strong alliance between the two villages.

Oh well, inter-village politics was not going to help him now. His use of his family's blood jutsu had weakened him and dehydrated him. To make matters worse, he hadn't been able to pack survival supplies since his escape was hectic and unplanned. Starting off into the desert already dehydrated was near suicidal, but if he had stayed where he was, it would have meant signing his own death warrant. He closed his eyes, careful to breath through his nose and not his mouth in order to conserve water. Once the sun went down, if he was still alive, he would see if he could find water. Leaving his meager shelter right now would mean certain death from the desert sun.

He let himself drift into sleep. He was exhausted and knew he stood a good chance of never waking up, but it was a risk he had to take. He was simply too tired to not let his body sleep – not without taking some of the stimulants in his med kit and to take those while dehydrated would be reckless. He let himself drift off, trying not to think of anything. As he slipped into sleep, thoughts of his lover back in Konoha invaded his mind. Memories of Kotetsu stroking fingers through his hair and gently rubbing his shoulders lulled him into a relaxed state. His only regret was that he had spoken harshly to his lover before the mission. The fight they had three months ago seemed like nothing now that he was embracing his death.

He should have made up with the man instead of leaving on an S-class MABU classified mission with so many things unsaid. It was too late now for Izumo to tell Kotetsu how he felt. As the young operative closed his eyes, he only let himself think of the happy times. He wouldn't let himself think of the times Kotetsu had not been faithful, that didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that Izumo loved the man. If only he had been a little better at his job, he would be returning to his lover's arms and the critical information about Sound would not be lost upon his death. However, nothing could change the fact he was dying and more than likely would not wake up. He had failed his country, his village, his lover and his clan.

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The air was cooler as Izumo sensed a presence near him. He heard a grunt and struggled to open his eyes. The dehydration made it hard to see as he squinted in the pale twilight. He had to be delirious. There was no sensible explanation for why there would be a man dressed up in a black cat suit standing in front of him. He had hoped that any hallucinations would be nice … possibly erotic … confusing was not on his request list.

"So leaf, you are still alive." The man dressed up like a cat grunted again, "Nagao, get some water into him. Gaara will be pissed if we leave this guy here to die." Suddenly one of the figures behind the man dressed like a cat moved and the rest of the figures seemed to become very busy.

Izumo could not say anything; his tongue felt as if it took the entirety of his mouth. He felt someone kneel next to him and support his head as a weak trickle of water was urged between his lips. He felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness, his mind not even able to process how the man dressed like a cat realized he was from Konoha. Soon everything was black again, but this time he had hopes of waking up alive.

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When Izumo regained consciousness, he slowly became aware of the low hum of machinery and the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He didn't let any sign of waking up show. His chakra remained level, his breathing never changed and his heart rate remained as stable as he could keep it. As he became more conscious of his surroundings, he could tell he was in a small hospital room. The machinery hooked up to him seemed to be an IV drip and Izumo suspected there were pain killers in it based upon the out of body feeling he had. He could hear a lot of monitoring equipment, but nothing that would seem to indicate he was seriously injured. The wind was blowing wildly outside the window and he could hear the small sand particles hitting the glass. Yes, whatever the truth behind his hallucination was, he had definitely been found by Sand-nin.

He opened his eyes, first just a slit as he became used to the bright florescent of the hospital room. It took a few minutes to become used to the brightness, then he opened his eyes completely, looking around. He could hardly see anything outside the window; it appeared they were in the middle of a sandstorm. It had been years since Izumo had been in Sunagakure during a storm, but it was a sight few could forget. He didn't sense anyone close by, so he looked around the room.

Yes, he was definitely on pain meds still, and it was difficult to focus. His left leg was covered in bandages and he could feel a dull pain from it. He was on IV fluids as well. If he was in Sunagakure, and he was sure that he was, then he could assume that he was safe. Pushing the controls to bring the bed into a sitting position, he made himself comfortable and then pressed the nurse call button in his bedside. The sooner he got someone in here the sooner he could find out what had happened and see about returning to Konoha.

Not even a minute after pressing the button, a sand medic came rushing into the room, "Shinobi-san?"

He cut the young medic nin off mid-sentence, "Where am I? What is my condition? When can I speak to someone about getting out of here?" He felt himself struggling to stay focused on the man in front of him and his conversation.

The medic paused, "You are in the Suna hospital recovering from extreme exposure and dehydration. I will need to get your doctor to fill you in on your condition, but your leg was severely burned before Kankuro-san's group found you and brought you in."

Izumo nodded and started to reach for the bandaging on his leg as he struggled to focus. "I need to speak to someone; I have to get a message to Konohagakure. How long have I been unconscious?"

The medic-nin stepped forward, his hands reaching to stop Izumo from undoing the bandages. "You can't take those off yet; your leg is mostly an open wound and the risk of infection…"

Izumo stopped his hands from un-bandaging his leg as he cut off the medic-nin once again. "Please stop the painkillers. I can't have my mental capabilities impaired. I would like to be removed from the IV as soon as possible."

The medic-nin stood there, momentarily rendered speechless, "But, Shinobi-san, you are on so many pain meds that you shouldn't be conscious. The nature of your wound requires you to be on the pain medicine. Also we need the IV line incase of infection or any sudden change in your condition."

Izumo just frowned as he lay back in the bed; it was getting very hard to understand what was going on around him. All of his training in countering the effects of drugs was coming into play just to have this simple conversation. "Fine. I'll let it be, but may I please have some solid food and speak with whomever I need to about getting a message to my village?"

The medic-nin nodded as he left the room, promising that a nurse would be by soon. Once Izumo was alone again, he did a more careful inventory of the room. The IV stand had the saline drip but according to the writing on the bag, two different antibiotics had been added to the mix as well as a steroid. There was another small bag next to the saline bag which appeared to be an antifungal agent. The two more recognizable bags were two types of painkillers one of which was also an anti-inflammatory. He frowned, wishing that his medical knowledge came from training and not the after effects of too many missions gone poorly.

His leg had to be in bad shape for all those medicines to be pumped into him. He resisted the urge to peek under the bandages, accepting that perhaps the medic-nin hadn't been lying about the chance of infection. He didn't see a place in the room where his clothes could be stored. The room was missing the typical closet or dresser where his clothes could be hidden. In fact, it appeared from the marks on the floor that everything except the bed, the IV stand and the monitoring equipment had been removed from the room, based on the indents left on the floor.

It wasn't long before an older man walked in, obviously a doctor. Behind him was the man Izumo had seen in the desert, and evidently he had not been hallucinating when he thought the man was dressed up in a cat suit. Now that he was not on death's doorstep, he recognized the sand shinobi as one of the chuunin candidates from the last test he proctored -- Kankuro the brother of the Kazekage. The man's outfit did resemble a cat, but he knew it was really just the garb of a puppet master. He watched the two men enter his room and with a nod, he acknowledged their entrance, "Doctor-san, Kankuro-san."

Kankuro did not let the look of surprise pass his face that the man recognized him. He had after all recalled that this man was one of the chuunin examiners from the Chuunin test in Konoha. He didn't recall the man's name, but he knew who he was. The doctor on the other hand rushed up to the IV bags attached to Izumo. As the doctor looked over them, he shook his head, "Shinobi-san you should still be unconscious."

Izumo nodded, "My apologies, doctor. Would it be possible to please discontinue the pain medication?"

The man shook his head and started to describe in detail the nature of the wound on Izumo's leg. Evidently, his leg had not made it into the shelter when he passed out and had developed a third degree burn, which became infected by sand. They had to eviscerate the infected flesh and currently it was a painful open flesh wound.

Izumo nodded, "I understand it will be painful without the medication, but I am at an increased risk of dependency to at least the narcotic. If you could at least stop that one…"

The doctor nodded, evidently appeased by the compromise and disconnected one of the small bags from the IV stand

Kankuro stepped forward, "Not to be a prick, but who the hell are you, and what were you doing in wind country?"

Izumo smiled, the logical part of his brain suddenly thinking, perhaps he was being rather affected by the painkillers coursing through his body as he could barely concentrate on the sand-shinobi and that he had to resist his desire to comment on the cat suit. "Kamizuki Izumo, Chuunin of Konoha. Any more information than that I am not authorized to say. I was escaping from enemy-nin with my only escape route being your beautiful desert. Unfortunately, they didn't give me time to pack so I was all set to die when I was rescued it seems."

Kankuro paused as he looked at the chuunin. The tone was too nonchalant to be discussing his near death and the injuries he had obtained, both before and after the desert had had its way with the man. Remembering the man was on enough painkillers to keep a normal man unconscious, Kankuro just nodded. "We have sent word to Konoha that we recovered one of their Shinobi without any identifying items. I didn't think it was normal for a leaf-nin to be out without ID tags or his hitai-ate."

Izumo just shrugged and didn't offer any explanation. The other nin would know it meant that he was on an undercover assignment, but also it was obvious that Izumo could not say that that was the case. Instead, he switched the topic, "Did they send a response?"

Kankuro nodded, "They are sending a team to pick you up. I believe they had a good idea who they were missing. However, the return message didn't give any clue about your identity Kamizuki-san." He paused for a moment when Izumo nodded, "About the nature of some of your injuries…"

Izumo sat up a bit at the tone in the other nin's voice. The cold brush of worry temporarily cleared his head of the effects of the painkillers. "My injuries?" Kankuro exchanged a look with the doctor and suddenly Izumo had a good idea of what the problem was. "Ahh, yes injuries." Izumo leaned forward, ignoring the sheet falling to his abdomen as he leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Perhaps that information should not be shared with the team coming to retrieve me? After all a shinobi has to do what a shinobi has to do."

The doctor shook his head, "We are under obligation to fully report how we found you."

Kankuro nodded, "Yeah man, we aren't here to cover for you for anything."

Izumo frowned, "It is not covering; it is just that some information is more … restricted than other information. Then at least give the report only to the team's captain? " He was finding it hard to concentrate on the sand-nin or the room. Everything was getting very blurry, but he had to try and get the two to agree not to share the information before he let himself fall back into unconsciousness. "You … you must have ninja who are undercover, right?"

Kankuro and the doctor exchanged glances as the leaf-nin fell back into unconsciousness. The med-nin checked the vitals of his patient, "His body seems to respond to our medicines more like our elite forces do than how a chuunin should respond to such things."

Kankuro nodded, "Still don't explain why he was injured like some back alley whore." He frowned, "Fucking disgrace."

The doctor shook his head, "Perhaps the report should only be given to the team captain, it would appear something unusual has stumbled into our laps and we should make every effort to discover exactly what before we lose the opportunity."

Kankuro shrugged and muttered, "Whatever. Just don't do anything to put the alliance at risk, and you report directly to me." He then stalked out of the room as the doctor started to pull blood samples and do an extremely thorough examination of Izumo, determined to find out if there was anything unusual about the man that he could learn through medical science. Even amongst allies, a shinobi was never truly safe, but Izumo was much too injured to be able to do anything about the doctor's actions – or even to know about them. He slept on, oblivious and helpless.

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Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing. For some reason this sequel has proved very hard to write, but the MABU trilogy wouldn't be complete without it. Vol 3 is well on it's way to being written, but this one has been the difficult one.

I would love to hear from people about what you think on this. I also promise I will keep my usual quick update schedule now that I have started this. Updates are scheduled for posting on Friday provided that works with my Beta. If I get ahead enough in chapters I will resume twice a week updates.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few just slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter 2

Maito Gai stood on a cliff face watching as a fierce desert storm waged war across the landscape in the distance. He slowly raised his hand to his chin as he watched the awesome power of nature remake the desert below. Behind him, his three students stood. Rock Lee was close by his side, wearing his green outfit proudly as his large round eyes gazed at the storm. The boy nodded as he saw the look in his sensei's eye, both standing in silent awe of this wonder of nature.

Ten-Ten stood behind the two, slowly looking around as she sized up their situation. Without making a noise to alert Gai or Lee, she gave Neji a look of exasperation. They had been traveling for days now to reach Sunagakure, but in the dead of summer, travel across the desert was risky at best and suicidal at worst, so they had been moving by trade routes. Now they were only a day away from Suna, but there was a new obstacle.

Neji nodded at the kunoichi on their team. With out a word to anyone he brought his hands up, "Byakugan!" The veins bulged around his eyes as his vision slipped into near perfect 360-degree mode. "The storm is several miles wide; it looks like it is skirting the city. We won't be able to make it to our destination until the storm passes."

Ten-Ten spoke up before her sensei could make any unrealistic proposal about pressing forward. "We should set up camp here. There is a spring and shelter and once the storm has cleared we can continue on."

Gai nodded as he thought over what his two students had just said. They made very good points. The storms could be as fierce as they were beautiful, and his supervisors entrusted him with the safety of his precious students. He could not let any harm befall the three beloved students, who represented the future of his beautiful village.

Lee looked over at his sensei, "But Gai-sensei? I thought we had to hurry towards Suna to rescue a fellow ninja and return him safely to Konoha? We can not leave a compatriot in the hands of strangers?" The boy look perplexed that they were not charging forward into the storm.

With a glance to Ten-Ten, Neji spoke up. The Hyuuga preferred not to talk too often, and as such, when he did speak, his words held weight. "He is safe. Sand is an Ally of Leaf and as such will watch over him as we would watch over one of theirs." He spoke with a tone of finality, as if he was stating well-known fact and not assumption.

Lee looked up at his sensei, waiting to see what the older man would say to that. With a nod, Gai turned from the storm, "We will set camp and rest before pressing on with youthful vigor when the storm has passed. It will be a difficult journey back with an injured comrade. Once the storm's fury has passed we will make our glorious entrance into Suna and retrieve our fellow Konoha Shinobi!"

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Sandstorms were commonplace in Suna, and as such, measures had been taken when constructing the government offices and infrastructure. Just as other countries adapted to their own weather, Suna had adapted to the sand and when that involved desert storms, underground was the only place that was truly safe. Kankuro walked through one of the tunnels that crisscrossed the village of Sunagakure. He had received an interesting report from the doctor in charge of the leaf-nin, and he was rushing to see the results in person. Of course Kankuro rushing looked the same as always, except perhaps even more short tempered.

He soon reached the doctor's office. Barely bothering to knock on the door, he entered the other man's office, "Komeda, what did you discover?"

The doctor shook his head, he wasn't surprised by any disrespect from the Kazekage's brother; he had come to expect it. After all, the two men worked closely together. While to most people, puppet masters and doctors do not seem to go together, but if a person knew the details of puppetry and the numerous poisons involved, the familiarity would be understood. "Kankuro-san." He held up a few papers of lab work from the blood he had collected from their leaf 'guest'. "It is as I expected. This Chuunin examiner is not a Chuunin examiner, and I find it hard to believe he is a Chuunin at all. As you can see from these reports, he has several chemicals in his bloodstream, even after the time he has been in our care. After seeing these results, I ran some more blood panels and confirmed he has a similar tolerance to poison as our own elite infiltration forces."

Kankuro nodded, "Interesting. Very interesting. Any clue about what he was doing in our territory?"

Dr. Komeda nodded, "It seems he hasn't been in our country long when you had found him. We ran his possessions through a complete forensic panel. He appears to have come from western Rain based upon plant samples. From the poisons he has a resistance to, it would appear his primary defenses are against Rock's poisons, which makes sense given the long-standing rivalry between Rock and Leaf. I believe his story of having fled to here is plausible."

"What is the Leaf's condition? I expect his escort to be here shortly after the storm lets up."

"He won't be ready to leave for several days. I need to pull the bandages from his leg again before we even can think of healing it. There is still too much sand in it for it to be safe to close the wound."

Kankuro nodded, "I'll walk up with you. I want to get another look at this man."

The doctor led the way, carrying all the supplies he would need to rip off another layer of flesh from the leaf-nin.

As they reached the secured hallway – there might be a treaty with Leaf, but not to have the other shinobi under constant watch and security would be foolish – they cleared the seals on the hallway as a piercing scream erupted from the far end of the hall.

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Izumo awoke again. He was alone in his hospital room, but now without the strongest of the painkillers he was able to feel the damage in his leg. He carefully sat up in the bed, his head was much clearer now. He could not let himself fall unconscious like that again; he had to keep on his guard. Sand might be Allies, but he could not trust them.

He took careful stock of his body. His chakra reserves were almost back at the level they should be. He carefully unwrapped the bandages from his leg, the tender exposed muscle beneath the bandages causing him to wince. What wasn't burned was infected, not much was recognizable. Letting chakra flow into the wounded leg, he sensed the sand particles that were impeding his healing. Carefully letting the chakra infuse his blood, he concentrated and brought the blood to the particles. Encasing the foreign entities in a shell of his own blood, he braced himself. This was going to hurt. With a deep breath and a quick hand seal to focus his chakra, he brought his hands up into a rat position and pushed the blood out of his leg.

No amount of ninja training could have restrained the scream of pain as hundreds of blood projectiles burst from the burnt and infected flesh of his leg, each encasing a small foreign body that had been poisoning his body. Izumo screamed until he had to gasp for breath. Blood covered everything in the room. He struggled to control his breathing. Unable to control the chakra laced blood, the projectiles continued on their course, spraying the walls with the bright red fluid,

The door burst open as Kankuro and Dr. Komeda rushed in. Kankuro instantly was in a defensive stance, scanning the room for an intruder as he moved towards the bed, ready to launch an attack at anything out of the ordinary.

Dr. Komeda was careful as well. However, he rushed to his patient's side. Izumo was gripping the rails of the hospital bed as he breathed in through clenched teeth, struggling not to pass out from the pain.

A cool glow enveloped the doctor's hands as he carefully brought his chakra-encased hands towards Izumo's bleeding leg. Looking up at the chuunin, he narrowed his eyes, "How did you do that?"

Izumo shook his head, unable to speak from all the pain. The only thing the chuunin could do was struggle to breath and retain his fragile grip on consciousness. The little used jutsu drained his chakra down to almost nothing. White knuckles gripped the bedrails as he became unable to focus on anything in the room other than just not passing out.

Kankuro crossed the bloody room, convinced there was no danger of an attack from any outside force, "What the hell happened?" He looked down at the doctor who was starting to heal the Leaf-nin's leg. "The whole fucking place is covered in blood."

The doctor nodded, he was too engrossed in healing the wound in front of him to fully answer the questions of the other sand-nin. "Our friend here is full of surprises. I need to close this wound before he bleeds to death. Go get help. He needs a blood transfusion.

Suddenly the room was a flurry of activity, but Izumo was too intent on maintaining his fragile grip on the here and now to be able to appreciate the effort the medical staff exerted to save his life. It was several hours later when the whirlwind of motion slowed down and the chuunin could again open his eyes without the room spinning and blackness descending on him. His leg was re-bandaged, but this time without the sand particles; they even had healed the majority of the wound. What was still unhealed was minor and would not need attention until later. The sheets of the bed had been replaced with clean bedding, and two bags of blood were hooked up to the IVs -- one in each arm. His grip on consciousness was finally lost as he slipped into sleep, his mind barely aware of events around him.

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Kankuro waited outside the hospital wing. He had been in the way of the medic-nins as they rushed around the Leaf-nin. A few days before, he had been on patrol in one of the less traveled areas of Northern Wind country. When the tracker of his group had reported seeing footprints, he had not imagined what they found could have caused this much trouble. They had been expecting a bandit or a lost civilian when they saw the randomness of the tracks. The sight of a pale, slender, young man had come as a surprise. When they first had approached the body, he had assumed it was a recent corpse. The clothes on the man had been ripped to shreds, rendered incapable of protecting skin from the sun. The man's left leg lay exposed to the sun and was an open blistering wound covered in blown sand. The man's sunken features spoke of extreme dehydration. The sand surrounding the body was stained with the man's blood.

Looking back, had they been even a little delayed in following the tracks, the leaf-nin would be dead. The man's pulse had been very weak when they reached him. Kankuro had an excellent memory for remembering who people were, and he barely recognized the man as one of the proctors from the chuunin exam over a year ago. If he thought hard though, he had seen the man again bringing papers to the Hokage once when he journeyed to Konohagakure on a diplomatic mission.

Now, he had no idea how the man's room had become covered in blood. He couldn't think of any weapon that could do that, it was as if several packs of blood had suddenly exploded to coat every surface in sweet red fluid. He had seen plenty of battle and hadn't seen a room covered in blood like that one had been.

Kankuro straightened up as he sensed a familiar presence approaching him. His sister strode through the door, her hair drawn back in four blonde ponytails as she glanced around. "Kankuro. Gaara sent me to get a report on our … 'guest'." She was obviously not pleased to be doing her baby brother's bidding, but with him being the Kazekage, nothing could be done about it.

Kankuro shrugged, "Something happened. The doctor and I were on our way to check on him when we heard a scream and his fucking room looks like it was hosed down with blood."

She froze where she stood, "What? Is he alive?" Her lips dew into a pout. The implications of loosing the Leaf-nin in their hospital could not be good. They had told Konoha that the Shinobi was stable; it would look very unprofessional for him to end up dead now.

"He's alive." He pushed the hood of his puppeteer's outfit back to run a hand through his brown hair. "Somehow he seems to have gotten the sand and dirt out of his leg too. They're healing it up now."

Temari turned to look at her brother, "Why are you out here?" Several medical personnel took that moment to leave the secured area and she turned to them before getting an answer from her brother, "Someone report the status of the patient." One of the older nurses met her impetuous demand.

"You'll have to check with the doctor, but he is stable. I'm not sure about much more than that." When Temari nodded her dismissal, the woman hurried to catch up with the rest of the medics that were leaving for the other wards of the hospital.

With Kankuro on her heels, she strode into the secured area and into the leaf-nin's room. Dr. Komeda was double-checking the IVs flowing into the foreign ninja when the two siblings entered the room. Temari marched right over to him, "Doctor, what the hell happened?" Although people had cleaned the room, it would take a much more thorough cleaning to rid the room of the flood that had found every crevice. The entire room smelt of blood.

The doctor looked up at her, "I am not sure what he did, Temari-san. I am still running some tests. However, it would appear that somehow he used a jutsu to get the foreign particles out of his body. If so it was not the most well thought out move on his part."

She leaned over the man's bed, looking down at his face. She reached out and brushed the hair from in front of his face before turning to Kankuro. Temari journeyed to Konoha for diplomatic reasons much more often than Kankuro, and she was well aware of who this man was. "Why is one of the Hokage's administrative assistants in out hospital?"

Neither man had a valid answer for that. The doctor frowned as he grabbed a clipboard, "I need to run some tests." Without another word to the two sand siblings, he walked out of the room, his clipboard and some blood samples from the room in his hands.

Temari looked over to Kankuro, "What have you learned?" Her hand still rested on the sleeping man's forehand. If this man died, it would be even worse than she had originally anticipated. For the Hokage to lose one of her shinobi would be one thing, but this one had seemed close to the woman and was always at the Leaf leader's side whenever Temari was in Konoha.

Kankuro leaned up against the wall. "We should both report to Gaara, I don't want to have to repeat myself."

Her eyes narrowed, "Gaara sent me here to find out what was going on, so you had better start talking, little brother."

Kankuro he hated when his sister started to pull the in charge act. There wasn't anything he could do about it though, she could kick him clear across the room is she wanted to. "The guy's got an immunity to poisons like out top agents do. He does spy work not just paperwork. Least if the evidence is to be believed. I don't know what the Hokage's been telling you this guy is, but he sure as hell isn't some paperwork slave."

She leaned over the leaf-nin's sleeping body, as if staring him in the eyes would cause her suddenly to understand what the man was doing in her native country. Straightening up she turned to her brother, "Come on, we need to report this to Gaara before the group Konohagakure sent arrives." Without even waiting to see if her brother was following her, she stalked out of the room.

Kankuro followed her from the room, neither looking back at the sleeping man in the hospital bed. If either had, they might have caught a glimpse of dark blue eyes watching them leave. Izumo continued to feign sleep. If what he had overheard was to be believed, he would be in the hands of people he could trust soon. He just needed to last a little longer. He let his eyes close, but stayed on the edges of consciousness. He would sleep when the other Leaf-nin got here. He needed to get the information in his head to the Hokage. The implications of what he had found for Konohagakure and her allies were of more importance right now than his health – rest would have to wait.

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Thank you for reading. As always, I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review. Updated to occur every Friday


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few just slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter

Gaara frowned at his siblings from behind the large stone desk in his office. He pressed his hands to the cool marble top as he stood. Walking past the Kazekage robes that were hanging in the office, he glanced towards the curtain of sand blowing outside his large window. The last violent remnants of the storm scraped against the glass as the storm slowly died. "So you are telling me that one of the Hokage's personal assistants is in my hospital, and that you have reason to believe he is an undercover special operative?"

Temari glanced at Kankuro before walking over to the window herself, "We'll know more once the team from Konohagakure gets here, but it looks like that is the case. His name is Kamizuki Izumo and he is definitely the Hokage's personal assistant. The evidence for the undercover assumption is very compelling." She gestured to where the reports from the doctor were still resting on the hard marble desk.

Kankuro leaned up against the wall, "What are we gonna do once the leaf guys get here?" He was frowning as he watched his two siblings.

Gaara paused and seemed to think for a moment, "We'll keep them all under close watch. I don't think they would be spying on us, but it is a possibility and we can not risk the village's safety." He frowned as his brother and sister left the office. The alliance with Konohagakure was important to his village, but if this man represented a threat to its safety, he would have to be dealt with -- severely.

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As the sun rose over the desert landscape, Maito Gai led his three students though the dying remnants of the once impressive sand storm. Guards wearing cloth masks to keep the sand from their faces met them at the gate and escorted them to the hospital. It was exactly what was expected from a retrieval mission. What met them when they reached the hospital, however, was not.

The guards escorted them through town and led them to the secured ward of the hospital, but as soon as they passed the door and its seals, they saw the Kazekage standing in the hallway, flanked by his siblings on either side of him. For just a split second, the redheaded Kazekage's eyes widened as he saw exactly whom it was that Leaf had sent to retrieve the chuunin. Blue-green eyes met brown as Gaara looked at Rock Lee. He had not expected to see the boy again. Although they had parted on good terms after their working together to defeat Kimimaro, he knew damage of the type that his own powers had inflicted in the Chuunin exams could not be easily forgotten – or forgiven.

The three sand siblings stood facing the four from leaf for a moment before Gaara spoke. "We have identified the shinobi. He is Kamizuki Izumo, and if our sources are to be believed an assistant to your Hokage."

He watched the looks of surprise pass over three of the four Leaf-nin. Obviously, their sensei had not informed them about the suspicions of whom they were going to find in Suna. Gai nodded to the Kazekage, "We are honored that you have taken a personal interest in the well being of our comrade. This is a testament to the strength of the bond and dedication between our two villages."

Kankuro just raised an eyebrow as the green clad jônin struck a pose and gave them a thumbs-up gesture. "Uhh, yeah. Why don't you tell us –"

Gaara cut off Kankuro with a simple raise of his hand. Temari took a step forward to address the Leaf group, in matters of diplomacy she was often the mouthpiece. "There is a very important matter we need to address; the council has been pressing for answers about why _exactly_ an unauthorized Leaf shinobi was found within Wind borders. Of course we trust the bond between our villages…" She let herself trail off as she gave Gai an inquisitive look.

Maito Gai nodded, "Of course. The truth is that we do not know either. Is he in any condition to be answering questions?" He stood straight. In all honesty, he didn't know what the Chuunin was doing in Wind country. Tsunade had simply informed him that it was possible that the found shinobi could be Izumo and she hadn't told him more than that. Of course, Gai was not as stupid as people sometimes thought he was. He may be loud and brash and inclined towards long declarations, but he had seen enough war to know a few things. He definitely knew there were things going on in Konoha that he did not know of.

For the past year if not more, Iruka, Kotetsu and Izumo frequently disappeared. The official explanation was that they were on 'courier' missions. He wouldn't have known the frequency of the departures if it weren't for his close relationship with his eternal rival. Kakashi was often left alone on weekends with excuses of Iruka being off on a mission with either Kotetsu, Izumo or occasionally Anko. Once Gai realized that, he started to keep track of the four. They were gone from the village much more than one would think, even given the lack of capable shinobi after the sound attack. His questioning about the matter hadn't gotten any answers, but then again he hadn't asked directly – he knew this was a matter for discretion. Since the night nearly two years ago he found out that Iruka worked for Ibiki, he knew something was going on that he didn't know about. He just did not know exactly what it was or how widespread.

The official records were that Izumo had been on a simple courier mission to the Mist village – the exact opposite direction as Wind country. To find that the chuunin had surfaced in Wind country three months later and wounded was a red flag. Something was not adding up and Gai was not sure if he should try to find out what was really going on. He hadn't worried his students with such matters of course. To them this was a simple retrieval of an injured Shinobi from an Allied village.

Temari glanced back at Gaara and waited for his nod before leading everyone towards one of the hospital rooms. "There was an unexpected complication to his condition yesterday when he used some sort of jutsu on himself. He wasn't in any condition to use that much chakra so he hasn't been conscious since. He had one brief spell of coherence a day or so after he arrived here. He said something about having been in Rain country but was rather unclear." She paused as she reached the bedside of the Leaf-nin. Her brothers followed her, but kept their eyes on the contingent from leaf.

Gai walked over to Izumo's bedside and looked down at him, eyes widening as suddenly the chuunin's eyes opened. Izumo's dark blue eyes met with Gai's dark brown as the injured man spoke. "I need to get a message to the Hokage. Rain and Sound." He paused; talking was obviously still very difficult for him. "Scroll. I need a scroll. You need to get this information to Konoha."

Gai quickly took out a scroll and handed it to Izumo. Before he could grab a pen for the man, Izumo had sliced open his finger on his tooth and was writing in blood. Temari and Kankuro walked forward as if to see what was being written, but stopped when Gai's three students formed a wall between the bed and the sand siblings.

Izumo knew he had little time, and wrote quickly. He knew poor penmanship would be forgiven considering how important the information in the scroll was. Just as Temari was starting to raise a fuss, he closed and sealed the scroll. As the seal glowed with a pale blue chakra, Izumo relaxed. He handed the scroll back to Gai, "Tsunade knows how to open it. No one else will be able to."

As Gai took the scroll, he looked down at it. His eyes registered the seal that covered the scroll, and then he looked back at Izumo. The seal proved the man's suspicions that something was going on behind the scenes. The seal was sloppy, very unlike the chuunin's normal seal work. However, the seal was still viable, and Gai could still recognize it after having seen so many like it back when he was a chuunin in the war a decade and a half ago. It was a MABU seal. As Gai's hand tightened onto the scroll, the chuunin in the hospital passed out.

Temari walked past the three Gai's three studentsgenin, forcing her way to where the jônin was standing, "What is in that scroll." She had dropped the diplomatic niceties.

Gai held out the scroll, "I can't open it. No one here can open it. This seal can only be opened by the current Hokage and no one else." Her eyes narrowed at him as Gai continued, "The trust that Sunagakure has placed in her Ally will be noted in my report to Tsunade-sama. After the deceit brought about by Orochimaru."

Her eyes narrowed. Bringing up the joint Sound & Sand attack on Leaf two years ago was risky, but he had to get this message to the Hokage. Temari looked like she was going to argue, but Gaara stepped forward. "We will allow the message to be sent. However, I must request to know if this involves my village as soon as that information is known."

The Kazekage's terms were quickly agreed upon and Kankuro lead Gai towards the Aviary to attach the scroll to a messenger bird. Gaara left the room without another word; he had his duties to resume. Temari was left with the three studentsgenin and the unconscious Chuunin. Her eyes narrowed as she watched them. "I will arrange lodging for the three of you and your sensei. Someone will be by to escort you there." Without waiting for a response, she stalked out of the room.

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As the woman left the young Leaf shinobithree genin, Ten-Ten looked at her teammates. "Did something seem really off with how Gai sensei was reacting to that scroll?"

Lee gave the girl a puzzled look, "If anything were wrong, Gai-sensei would have told us. We are his team!" He struck a pose and a large smile.

Completely ignoring Leethe other male genin, Neji looked at Ten-Ten. "The scroll had a very powerful seal. Whatever he was writing was infused with Chakra. I couldn't make out the message; the only thing I could make out was the signature on the seal. It was only two characters, 'Ma' and 'Bu'."

The girl looked puzzeled, "Do you have any idea what that means?"

Lee walked over to them, much quieter now that the subject had slipped from Gai and onto other matters, "Ma Bu? I've never heard of anything that could stand for."

Neji was looking serious. The others looked at him. This was not one of Neji's silences where he just didn't have anything to say. This was a silence where he was thinking of something. Ten-Ten looked up at the stoic Hyuuga, "What do you know?"

"Neji! You must tell us." Lee was almost bouncing with the need to know.

"It's just rumors." He seemed unwilling to give more information, but he could tell by the looks of both teammates that he was not going to get any peace until he told him what was going on. "It's rumors, from back during the war with Stone."

Ten-Ten closed in on Neji as the three members of team Gaigenin huddled in a secretive meeting of hushed tones. It was rare for Neji to mention anything that far back in the past. Whenever he brought up something so old, it was always involving his family and normally an incredibly juicy bit of knowledge.

The Hyuuga's pale eyes darted to the door before looking back at his teammates. "Byakugan." He activated the Byakugan in order to make sure that no one could sneak up on them before whispering. His teammates were perfectly still and quiet, ready to listen. Whatever the other man was about to say was going to be very secret. It was an unspoken rule amongst them that these things were never mentioned outside of their group.

"Back during the war, many members of the Hyuuga branch family were ANBU members. It was the first war where branch members achieved the elite ranks. The honor was normally reserved for main house members. However, I had an aunt." He paused to shift his feet slightly, "According to the official documents she was just a chuunin working for the Torture and Interrogation unit in an administrative and support capacity. About a year before the end of the war, she didn't come back from a mission. When they buried her body, it was as a jônin. The official story in the Hyuuga history is that her bravery in her last battle was determined to be worthy of a posthumous rank increase, as a show of how she died protecting the village."

Both other genin nodded. Such things were not unheard of. Battlefield rank increases to the dead in time of extreme danger were not unheard of. They knew this is not what the Hyuuga was going to tell them.

He swallowed before continuing. "Of course this seems like a believable story. However, details of this heroic mission have never been added to the Hyuuga history. It is exactly the type of thing the main branch loves to include. They love showing how even a branch member is better than other clans in Konohagakure. The history of that woman remains blank though. While that is suspicious enough in itself, when I was younger I found a trunk with her name on it."

While most outside of team Gai had never heard the Hyuuga genius say this many words, the other two knew he loved to tell a good story about his family, especially if it involved deceit on behalf of the main house. He looked at them, pausing for a moment, "When I opened the trunk, there was a mask."

Ten-Ten gasped, "She was ANBU?"

Neji shook his head, "The mask was not an ANBU mask. It was a plain white mask with two characters on it… 'Ma' and 'Bu'."

Ten-Ten gasped and turned to look at the man they had been left with. When he had made the scroll and given it to Gai-sensei he hadn't seemed like the mild-mannered easily forgotten chuunin he was supposed to be. Seriousness like that in a shinobi often meant power, but a chuunin who mostly did paperwork should not be that confident. "Neji? You mean you think there is a connection?"

He nodded, "After seeing that mask, I did some research. It seems there is a covert group. I couldn't find out anything about them beyond that they exist. Evidently the fourth used to use them in times of war." No one missed the slight emphasis on war.

All three looked back at the man on the bed, quietly thinking over what they had learned from Neji. They were startled from their watching when Gai strode back into the room. "Team. We are going to be here until we get an answer from Konoha. We will be setting up watches. Neji, you stay here with Izumo-san, Ten-Ten and Lee, come with me. Temari-san is going to show us to the quarters we have been assigned." Without any more words, Neji was left alone with the chuunin as the others left to get situated.

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Although the trip to Sunagakure had been difficult, once they were there, things were surprisingly easy. Ten-Ten had been assigned her own room in the small three-bedroom suite that had been given to the fire shinobi. Lee and Neji would be the only ones sharing a room. Perhaps this was the nicest accommodations that Ten-Ten had ever been given on a mission. She had been getting some rest in her room before her shift watching Izumo started. She was supposed to be sleeping, but her mind had been racing as she tried to figure out what was going on. Between Neji's story about 'Mabu' and the tense silence as Temari had led them to their quarters, it was obvious something was up. Gai-sensei was even quiet. The man had never been quiet except when one of them was in critical condition at the hospital or in the midst of the worst battles that they had seen on their hardest missions. A talkative Neji and a silent Gai-sensei always meant trouble in the worst possible way in her limited experience.

She managed to get a few hours sleep before leaving to relieve Lee from his shift at the hospital. They split the watch into four shifts, each six hours in length. She was a few minutes early, but she knew Lee would feel compelled to explain in detail about how exciting his shift was. How that boy could make sitting in a hospital room for six hours sound like it was vital to the defense of Konoha, she had no idea.

Finally, she was alone in the room with the unconscious chuunin, so she took the seat next to his bed and started to work on some scrolls. She had been working for several hours and was expecting Gai-sensei soon to relieve her when she heard a soft voice, "That seal is wrong."

She spun around to look at the half-awake chuunin. She hadn't thought he was awake, let alone that he had a view of her scrollwork, but somehow the man had managed to roll to his side to see what she was doing without her noticing he had woken up – let alone had moved in the bed. Her eyes widened, they were right. This man was not an ordinary chuunin.

"Izumo-san, Should I get someone?" She stood up, not bothering to think of the scrollwork she had been doing. She didn't know what she was supposed to do if the man woke up; the doctor had said he'd be out for days.

He shook his head, "No, I need you to do something, Ten-Ten-chan. It's very important and I need you to be very quiet while you do it."

She nodded, "Yes." Doubt flashed across her face, she normally only took directions from Gai-sensei or one of her teammates.

He just nodded at her, "What I need you to do is take the syringe from the top of the medical waste bin over there, carefully, and see the small clear bag on the IV stand with the yellow and orange stickers?" When she nodded, he continued, "I need you to remove what is in that bag by using the syringe but make sure you only pierce the top of the bag, and then fill it to the same place it is now with the contents of the large bag of saline fluid. Can you do that, Ten-Ten?"

She looked from him to the IV stand. He was asking her to replace the strongest of the three painkillers with saline fluid. Of course, it made sense. That painkiller was also a sedative. No ninja ever wanted to be sedated if he didn't have to be. He was a leaf-nin and higher ranking than she was. She stood quietly and went to follow his directions. When she was done, she walked back to his side, "Gai-sensei should be here shortly."

He nodded, "Good. That's good. He's Kakashi's friend. Your team has the Hyuuga on it. This is good. Did he get the scroll sent?" He was looking at her with eyes that were surprisingly clear considering all the meds he was on.

She nodded, "They sent it by bird to Konoha almost a day ago. It should be there soon."

He nodded again, "Good. Ten-Ten? This is very important. When Gai-sensei gets here, I need you to let him know he needs to wake me up without anyone else knowing. If you can't get the message to him safely, its better to not deliver the message at all. Do not think of Sand as our ally right now, all right?"

She nodded. She didn't like how this was sounding. If this meant the alliance was questionable, it put them all in a dangerous position. "Are we in danger?"

He reached out to take her hand, "A shinobi is always in danger. However, yes, there is danger here. I don't know exactly yet where and who, but I need you to be very careful." He paused for a second, "I'd rather ask you to do this than your sensei. If I don't make it back to Konoha, can you tell someone something for me? It's a personal message."

She felt fear grip her. The idea of danger here was bad enough, but for a shinobi showing the level of ability that Izumo was to feel the need to entrust someone with a personal message in case he didn't make it – that meant this was very serious. She nodded, "yes."

"If I don't make it back, I need you to find Kotetsu and tell him I am sorry and I love him. Just that. Can you?"

She nodded, her lips slightly parting as she breathed "Yes". She had been expecting something else. She had heard rumors of course that those two had a thing, but 'things' were common place. Your last personal message in case you died, however, was not the stuff of 'things', that was love. "I promise. I'll tell him."

He smiled at her as he fell asleep, his hand still gripping her reassuringly. She sat back down next to him to await the arrival of her sensei. Her enjoyment of their nice rooms was gone -- this was serious.

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Thank you for reading. As always, I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few jus slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter 4

Kankuro rushed down to the front gate. He had to break into a jog, and with the heavy scrolls on his back, he did not appreciate it. The message had come from the front gate that there was a summons demanding entrance to Sunagakure. Kankuro was willing to bet it was the response from Konohagakure. When he got there, his suspicions were confirmed. The Leaf-jônin had informed them that this would be a possibility.

A single dog paced anxiously in front of the gate. She was a pale tan greyhound. Her sides were still heaving from the race across the better part of two countries and her fur was soaked in sweat. He looked down at the dog, which had a scroll securely attached to the blue jacket over her torso. The henohenomoheji symbol proudly proclaiming that she was the summons of Hatake Kakashi.

For some reason, Kankuro got along well with animal summons, even though all he pulled from his scrolls were inanimate puppets. Something about the flesh and blood summons agreed with him. He looked down at that animal, knowing she was under orders either to give that scroll to either Gai or Izumo. "You. Follow me."

Although the greyhound narrowed her eyes at Kankuro, she did as he said and followed him as he led her to the hospital. Her stance and sharp glare made it clear that although she was willing to follow him, he would not be able to touch that's scroll around her neck as long as there was life coursing through her body.

He hurriedly walked to the hospital, passing the guards and the security doors without even a nod to anyone. He led the summons directly to the hospital room where he knew Gai would be since this was time for the man's watch over the unconscious leaf. What he hadn't expected was for the chuunin in question to be awake and talking to the leaf jônin in hushed tones. Evidently, his sudden arrival hadn't been expected as both Leaf-nin looked at Kankuro, years of training hiding any surprise they might have other wise shown.

Izumo simply sat up in bed, even though according to the doctors the pain medications they had him on should have made that impossible even for one of the Suna ANBU forces. The chuunin reached down to take the scroll the dog carried. Cutting his own finger, he undid the seal holding it shut and opened it. A quick scan and the already grim looking chuunin looked even more so. Once she was assured the scroll was safely delivered, she disappeared in a cloud of chakra smoke, her mission accomplished.

Midnight blue eyes met Kankuro's brown as the chuunin swung his legs over the side of the bed to be sitting and facing the sand-nin. With a polite bow of his head, the chuunin slipped into a formal speech the type that was only used for highly ritualized meetings. No one still requested a meeting with a Kage this formally. "I, Kamizuki Izumo, Chuunin of Konohagakure, in the Land of Fire, and upon direction of The Hokage Tsunade-sama, request a private meeting with Gaara-sama the powerful Kazekage of Sunagakure, in the Land of Wind. The matter to discuss is of a most secretive and urgent item that is critical to the safety of both our villages.

As if with one mind, Gai and Kankuro objected. There was no way Gai was going to leave a seriously wounded comrade's side, and there was no way that Kankuro was going to allow this unknown shinobi to have a private audience with Gaara. Even if his younger brother was protected by the one-tailed demon raccoon, there was no need to be foolish. Eventually it was agreed that Gai would accompany Izumo and that Kankuro and Temari would be at the Kazekage's side.

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Izumo and Gai were led into the Kazekage's office. Izumo was still very week and had only been taken off the IV medicines in order to perform his duty of briefing the Kazekage. Black circles marred his eyes and he was forced to walk slowly the entire distance. However, he did not lean on Gai; he walked from his hospital room to the imposing office in the administrative building under his own power. A fresh leaf hitai-ate adorned his head, pressing his long bangs over one eye. He was also in a brand new uniform. Gai's team had come prepared when they had gone to pick up a comrade, and that included clothes.

Neither shinobi was armed, unlike the three sand-siblings. Kankuro stood to his brother's left, an imposing figure in his kabuki makeup and his dark puppet master outfit. The scrolls containing his deadly puppets were strapped to his back. On the young Kazekage's other side stood his blonde haired sister, Temari. Her abilities with the powerful fan strapped to her back were well known.

Even though the two leaf shinobi were not armed, they were far from helpless. Gai was well known as a master of Taijutsu and Izumo had how own powerful jutsu. However, they were not there for battle. As the door closed behind them, Izumo strode to the table. "Kazekage-sama, I must apologize for not speaking earlier. However, I needed the permission of my Hokage."

The young redheaded Kage nodded, "Of course. Now explain what this is about." There was a not to subtle threat, but nearly everything from the demon possessed Kazekage had a hint of a threat to it. This, however, was one time when the more diplomatic sister did not step in.

Izumo went into explanation without pause. "I am sure that you are well aware that the Akatsuki is looking to capture the bijuu to use their power for some purpose. However, their former member, Orochimaru is also eyeing the same source of power." He glanced at Gai for a second when the green clad jônin showed surprise at this. The expression did not go unnoticed as the sand siblings' eyes shifted for a second.

Clearing his throat, and leaning on the desk to emphasis his point, or in actuality to support his weight. His injuries still bothered him more than he was willing to let others know. "As you know from the deception Orochimaru used to have Sand forces aid him in attacking Konohagakure. The man used subterfuge and covert operatives and deep plants. We have every reason to believe that not only does he have agents working in Konoha," Izumo did not even pause as Gai shifted uncomfortably at the admission of Konoha's weakness, "he also has agents working in Sand."

Gaara's eyes narrowed as his siblings watched him for reaction. "And what proof do you have of this, Leaf?" Although his voice sounded harsh and he was challenging the assumption. He appeared honestly to want the proof. He would have to be a fool not to acknowledge the possibility after Orochimaru had orchestrated the killing of his father, the former Kazekage."

Izumo looked around the room before speaking. "While I have the Hokage's permission to share this information, I must insist that it is not discussed outside of this room. We do not know who is a double agent and we can not risk this knowledge in more hands than the absolute minimum." He paused and looked around again. What he was about to say was information he had never had to tell anyone. His involvement in undercover work for Konoha was a strictly kept secret. The more people knew that he worked undercover, the greater the danger for him and his friends.

He knew he would have to explain things simply yet concisely. "While all the hidden villages have Hunter-nin and ANBU forces or a similar unit, Konohagakure has another type of unit that is not well known and has not been publicly acknowledged since the war with Rock fifteen years ago. The second Hokage formed a unit for undercover work similar in structure to the ANBU forces. This unit was named MABU or Mayakashi Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. Unlike the ANBU, we rely on our skills of deception and stealth to perform mostly undercover work."

As expected, the observant shinobi in the room did not miss his use of the word 'we'. "There was a MABU operation on the border of Rain and Grass. Information about Orochimaru's movements was uncovered and further steps were taken to find out what was happening. I will supply a fully detailed report for both my Hokage, and you, Kazekage-sama, but the essential information is that Orochimaru seems to be diverting interest from obtaining blood-traits, most likely due to his possession of the Uchiha, and had instead started to concentrate on competing with the Akatsuki to obtain Bijuu. Reports of your training schedule, patrol schedule and daily activities have been passed to Sound. It is my recommendation that you up your guard and completely redo your schedule."

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "You are implying someone close to me is working for Orochimaru in order to betray me?" The young Kazekage stood as if to challenge Izumo and his assumptions.

Izumo met his stare without budging. "No I am stating it as a fact. Someone wants to see your body handed over to that snake bastard and have the Bijuu in you ripped out so that the sadistic bastard can do Kami knows what with the power."

Gaara nodded, not many people had the courage to stand up to him. The leaf ninja gave no sign of lying and he could not see what benefit would come from him taking added security precautions. "I will. I assume there is more to this."

Izumo nodded, "The Hokage wants me to propose some inter-village cooperation. Suna would be a much better base of operations for the infiltration work that needs to be done, as well allowing us to take a two-pronged approach. There appear to be two major areas where information from Konoha and Suna are being gathered. The thought is if we send two forces and infiltrate both at the same time; there will be less chance of actions at one alerting the other that they have been discovered. The hope of course is to discover the identity of the traitors."

Gaara nodded and Kankuro stepped closer to the table, this was something they could agree with. Traitors to Sunagakure had to be treated with the utmost force. "And who will make up these two forces?" The Kazekage's defensive posture could not be mistaken. Yes, he trusted the alliance between Sand and leaf, but putting his shinobi in danger without hard evidence would be asking a lot.

Izumo did not pause. "I will be the primary undercover agent for the team based out of Suna. Team Gai will serve as backup. The official reason for their extended stay will be my continued recovery. I must ask that everything continue to appear that I am incapacitated in the hospital." When Gaara nodded, Izumo continued, "We will also need a trusted Shinobi from you to serve as a guide through the desert and to deal with any Sand-nin we run into. I assume you will also want someone you trust to keep an eye on us incase this turns out to be an elaborate plot against Suna."

Gaara had not been about to say that such a thought had crossed his mind, but if the serious Chuunin was going to say it, the Kazekage was not going to disagree. "Kankuro will be assigned." He stated it with finality and no one was going to question the decision.

With a nod, Izumo closed his eyes and stood straight, removing his weight from the hand that had been on the desk. "That is agreeable. Tomorrow at Noon, I will require Kankuro-san and Gai-san to meet with myself so that we can go over the plans. I will also get word to Konoha that all is agreeable and that we will commence our mission in one week's time.

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Gai led Izumo back to his hospital room. It had been decided that the man should rest there for at least another day. A messenger had been sent to tell Ten-Ten to report to the man's room. The jônin did not say anything as he led Izumo through the corridors; it was not until they reached the hospital room that the larger man spoke. "You work for Ibiki as well."

Izumo simply nodded as he sat on the side of the hospital bed and removed his vest. He did not look Gai in the eyes. Although the man wasn't much older than he was, the jônin had served in the war between Rock and Leaf. That was almost the last time that MABU forces had been officially acknowledged in front of the general shinobi population. After the death of the Fourth, all MABU references had gone underground since the Third no longer felt such things should be done by Konohagakure.

Gai was more socially aware than most gave him credit for. Just because he normally chose to speak in flowery speeches did not mean he was incapable of quiet. Sometimes his speeches were in whispers. This was one of those cases. "Konohagakure is a beautiful and rich village and she is made up of many clans and many people. The diversity of her residents is what makes her powerful. Everyone from the Hokage to the youngest child is vital to her success. The shopkeeper to the gate guard. All are vital to her vitality and beauty. As long as the fire burns in each of us, Konoha will forever be in an eternal springtime of youth. The Genjutsu user or the Taijutsu user, the genius or the dedicated, many times make up her wonderful essence. What MABU forces did back in the war was as vital to Konoha's glorious victory as the actions of the forces fighting in the trenches."

Izumo looked up at Gai. His shirt had been set aside during the long speech. Still thinking about what the other man had said, he reinserted the IV with a disturbing ease and lay back on the bed. "Thank you." He did not have any other words to say to the jônin whom he had previously disregarded as just a crazy friend of Kakashi's. Not that Kakashi wasn't crazy, but Kakashi was the lover to one of his best friends and thus was a friend as well.

Gai did not seem to need further thanks for his speech; instead, he struck a pose and flashed a smile. He was still in his trademark pose when Ten-Ten walked into the room. A slight sigh escaping her as she saw her sensei once again in the 'good guy' poses. Behind the young Kunoichi, a nurse was brining in a tray of hospital food. Completely ignoring the two shinobi that were standing in the room, she placed the tray next to Izumo and launched into an obviously often recited speech on how important it was for a recovering patient to rest and eat his food. In what seemed an instant to the tired Chuunin, she had gotten Ten-Ten to agree to make sure the man ate and Gai was leaving the room in order to let the other man rest.

Almost before he could blink, Izumo found himself alone in the room with Ten-Ten and a tray of very questionable looking food. Both he and the young kunoichi looked down at the tray. When she saw the look on his face as he poked some grey glop on the tray, she could not hold back a giggle, "I think they are trying to kill you with the food."

Normally Izumo didn't try to use any of his MABU training on shinobi from his own village. Of course, anything with his co-operatives was exempt from that rule, so all bets were off with Kotetsu, Iruka, or Anko. Ten-Ten was not an operative, but the tray of food-like substance called for desperate measure. He looked up at the young kunoichi. His eyes held a vulnerable look and his lip was almost giving the impression of a pout. "It's fine. I am sure it is very nutritious. I've lived on field rations for months before, how much worse can this be?" He took a mouthful of the grey substance, which admittedly was not as bad tasting as it looked, however he shuddered and made sure his swallowing looked almost painful. Quickly grabbing a glass of water, he swallowed the cool liquid.

The look in Ten-Ten's brown eyes showed his performance had been bought perfectly. "Izumo-san, there is a yakitori vendor out front of the hospital. I could be back in five minutes."

Of course, Ibiki would not have been impressed with his ability to con a girl into getting him food. However, Izumo was very proud of himself when not five minutes later had had yakitori and was thanking Ten-Ten for being so kind. The grilled chicken was the first real food he had had in a long time. The trip to the Kazekage's office had taken a lot out of him and he quickly found himself sound asleep, the comforting presence of the young kunoichi.

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Kankuro turned to his brother and sister as the door closed behind the two leaf-nin. "Think we can trust 'em, or is that why I am being assigned?" He folded his arms across his chest as he sized up his siblings.

Temari was wearing a frown as she suddenly asked, "Is it safe to send Kankuro with them. We don't know anything about how they know this or who he really is or what the hell this organization is."

Gaara looked from his sister to his brother. "The story confirms much of what we had independently verified. It also agrees with many things the leaf-nin should not know that we had discovered. If Sound is after Shukaku, then it is a threat to the entire country. That man in control of such a thing is a grave danger. I need to send someone I can trust, and that means one of you." After the battle with Naruto, Gaara had started to realize the bond he had with his siblings, but still, both looked surprised that the youngest of them would say such a thing.

Kankuro nodded. His brother, his Kazekage, needed him for this mission. He would not fail him. He could not fail his family or his country. "I won't fail you, brother." He looked straight into his bother's eyes. The significance of calling him brother and not calling him Kazekage or even his name was not lost on anyone.

Without another word, Kankuro walked from his brother's office. The knowledge of how much his baby brother needed him and depended on him causing an uncharacteristic heaviness to his stride. He could not fail his baby brother. If that sound bastard was after the Bijuu contained in the young redhead, than Kankuro was going to make sure any sound nin that tried it, choked on their own blood.

He went to begin preparing. He only had a week, and his third puppet had only been used in practice, never real combat. He had a lot of work to do, traps to set, poisons to mix, and spying to do on that leaf team. His brother might trust leaf, but that did not mean Kankuro did – not at all.

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Thank you for reading. As always I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few just slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter 5

Three days earlier in Konohagakure:

Hatake Kakashi awoke from a deep sleep. There were few places where an elite shinobi could sleep and feel safe, and for him, all of them involved being in his husband's arms. He may have been naked, but he was far from unarmed. Kunai were in strategic places all within arm's reach. Senbon were stashed as well-- those were his husband's weapon of choice.

He had gone from sound asleep to wide-awake, but nothing changed on his outward appearance. However, as soon as he recognized the chakra flare outside that had woken him, he began to sit up. It was familiar and non-hostile. The only reason for someone to be announcing their presence like that at this time of night meant that there was an ANBU mission for him.

What he did not expect was that his husband was also suddenly sitting up. Without an ounce of modesty, not that Kakashi thought his husband had anything to be modest about, Hatake-Umino Iruka slid out of bed and walked naked over to the window to disarm the traps and open it. This was unusual. Normally, Kakashi would leave on an ANBU mission with Iruka doing little more than getting a few last kisses and a whispered 'I love you'. When Kakashi saw Iruka rub the Kanji Tattoo on his back shoulder, that was when he realized -- this was not an ANBU mission.

Hagane Kotetsu slipped in through the open window. The man was wearing his Chuunin uniform as he landed on the floor next to the very naked Iruka. With a nod to both of them, he frowned. "The three of us are to meet in Ibiki's office, ASAP."

Without pausing to think, Iruka started getting dressed into his jônin uniform. With a quick toss, Kakashi's clothes were thrown to him and he started getting dressed as well. Kotetsu was one of Iruka's closest friends. The two had been on the same genin team, and had been MABU together for years, undercover agents working directly for the Torture and Interrogation head.

Iruka noticed the worried look on Kotetsu's face. Throwing on his shirt, he walked over to the spiky haired man, "I'm sure it's all right. No one else is missing that could have been found in Wind country. It has to be him." With a squeeze of his hand on the chuunin's shoulder, Iruka tried to reassure him, but knew it was impossible. Kotetsu's lover, Izumo, had been on an A-rank mission on the border of Rain and Grass when they lost contact with him over a month ago.

Kakashi didn't ask why he was being asked to meet with Ibiki; he knew whatever was going on had to be big for this meeting to be called. The three crossed the rooftops of Konoha in the sharp light of the full moon. Those shinobi and ANBU watching the town occasionally faded into view and then disappeared back into shadows as the three ran towards Ibiki's office. The apartment that Kakashi and Iruka had obtained after their marriage was located a good distance from the administrative area, somewhere more peaceful where both men could relax. It was hell for 3AM mission summons though.

The stress eating away at Kotetsu was obvious as the three landed in front of the building marked Torture and Interrogation. Confidently, they strode through the front door. The ANBU guard not even looking at the three – they were expected. They quickly made their way past unmarked doors and secured corridors to the office of the head of the T&I unit. Morino Ibiki was in his office with a large map spread over his desk, and a scroll written in blood spread out over that. What was not expected was the presence of the Hokage.

Kotetsu breathed in quickly as he advanced to the table with the map and the scroll. Kakashi and Iruka were right behind him. Without a word being said, Kotetsu was looking at the scroll, "That is from Izumo."

Tsunade reached out a hand to touch the chuunin's shoulder. "He's safe. Relax. One of the patrols from Sunagakure found him and he is safe in their hospital." The Hokage kept a firm grip on his shoulder as the other two looked down at the scroll. All of them had seen plenty of Izumo's normal penmanship to know how horribly rushed this scroll was.

Ibiki started to gesture to the map, explaining what was in the scroll. As expected, Izumo had written it in code; even though it had been sealed with a strong jutsu that would have destroyed the contents if anyone had tampered with it. The essentials were quickly explained. Izumo had been sent to check out rumors of activity of rock ninja in the land of grass. What he had uncovered was an alliance between Rock and Sound operating in Rain and Grass in order to obtain the power of a Bijuu for Orochimaru. The forces seemed to be working through two towns, one in Rain and One in Grass. It also appeared that sound has spies working in both Konoha and Suna.

Tsunade took over the explanation, "I will dispatch a scroll back to Izumo instructing him to inform the Kazekage of the danger that he is in. In addition, I told him to do his best to set up a joint Sand and Leaf force to investigate the village closest to Sunagakure. The three of you are the force I am sending to the second village to find out what we can. I believe Izumo can work with what resources he has. The mission will start in 10 days. That should give Izumo enough time to recover and for his powers to approach peak, and for your team to get in position. I will be sending a medic-nin with you as well. When you get to Suna I want one of our own to verify his condition as well as your team will need a medic on this mission."

The meeting fell into details then and eventually the scroll was written that would explain the decisions to Izumo. One of Kakashi's dogs was summoned and given the important task of delivering it to Izumo in Suna. Logistics were worked out. Izumo had team Gai to work with and the other team would be Kotetsu, Iruka and Kakashi. Tsunade was also going to add a medic nin of her choosing to their team. The three men were to meet in her office later that morning.

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Haruno Sakura walked into her sensei's office. She had been studying medicine under the new Hokage for nearly two years as well as learning the chakra control and ability to maximize her strength. She was still a genin, but she was hopeful that this meeting had to do with the upcoming chuunin testing in Suna in two months. "Tsunade-sama, you wanted to see me?"

Looking around the room, she was surprised to see two of her former teachers in the room. Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were near the window. The only other person in the room was one of the Hokage's assistants, Kotetsu. Not sure as to why she had been called to the office considering who else was here, she attempted to look as serious and capable as possible.

Iruka straightened up as the pink haired girl walked in. Granted, she was fifteen now and not the little girl he had taught but there was no way Tsunade could be serious about sending the girl on the mission with them. He turned to Tsunade, "Why is Sakura-chan here?" He had been her teacher when she was still a boy crazy pre-teen, he felt justified in the use of the 'chan' suffix.

Tsunade looked over at the three obviously uncomfortable male shinobi. "Sakura is going with you three." She stated it as if there was nothing left to discuss and motioned the girl over towards the desk. As Sakura crossed the room, the Hokage continued. "She will be entering the Suna chuunin exams with Ten-Ten and Lee as the other members of a put together team."

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Perhaps it would be better if—"

Sakura cut off her old teacher, "Kakashi-sensei, with all due respect I am ready to enter the chuunin test." She looked at her two former sensei, both of whom looked like they did not want her to be going.

Iruka shook his head, "Sakura-chan, it isn't that. It is just—"

Tsunade slammed her fist onto the desk. "Iruka-kun." The man froze, when she started calling him 'kun' there was no hope of winning an argument. "I am not sending you on this mission without a medic with you, and Kotetsu, you are not to take any unnecessary risks. Kakashi, you are appointed in charge. This is officially a joint ANBU and MABU mission. You leave in the morning. The team is final." She stood up and walked to the window. "After the conclusion of the initial stage of the mission, you will meet up with the other half of the team in Sunagakure. Official reasons will be Iruka and Kotetsu are helping with the administrative aspects of the Chuunin exam, and Kakashi is accompanying his genin student since she will be taking the test."

When there was no more disagreement since she made it official, Tsunade continued. "Sakura is a capable medical ninja. She may have the rank of genin, but I can assure you that will not be the case after the next chuunin testing. She has been personally taught by myself and will be able to back up the three of you. However, she is to remain back-up. If I even hear rumor of her going in undercover, it would be best if the three of you went missing and I never found you." The threat was clear in her voice.

"Hokage-sama." Iruka kneeled down on one knee fingers flexed on the ground, this was his Hokage in serious mode and he reacted by showing the proper respect as expected from the ranking member of MABU. "How much are we allowed to tell her?"

Sakura stepped back; she had not expected this at all. Suddenly, cheerful good-natured Iruka was kneeling as if he were a masked ANBU getting his permission to depart. Tsunade nodded, evidently pleased with how her orders were being taken. "She'll discover it all anyway on this mission. She will be your unit's medical backup after this is over though, so I leave it to your discretion… Faith." The implications of using his MABU code name made everything clear. It was the same as if she had dismissed an ANBU by their mask name. He bowed his head and then stood. With a nod, she dismissed all four of them.

As a group, the four shinobi left, Iruka carefully guiding the confused girl from the office. In a flash of chakra smoke, Kotetsu and Kakashi disappeared, leaving her with only this strangely serious Iruka. He led her from the building and into the building that housed ANBU and the Torture and Interrogation offices. He girl looked around, she had rarely been here, and never past the front areas. Masked ANBU and jônin walked back and forth, serious as possible in this place. No one ever seemed to talk unnecessarily in the building.

Iruka led her down halls, not giving a glance at anyone else, until they reach a relatively unused corridor. She had not seen anyone not in an ANBU mask for several minutes. He opened a door and led her into the room with a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, everything you see from here on in is classified. You don't have the rank to be seeing this; however, Tsunade-sama has chosen to make an exception."

She looked at him as they walked down the empty hallway, "I won't tell anyone, sensei." This version of Iruka was making her nervous. He was much too quiet and unlike the loud, passionate man who had taught her class. They reached a room at the end of the corridor and he opened the door, leading her into what appeared to be a cross between a waiting room, a doctor's examination room, and a locker room.

Once late at night, she had been training through some chakra control exercises with Tsunade-sensei and an ANBU party had come back badly injured. This almost reminded her of the room Tsunade had brought her to as she assisted the Hokage in saving the lives of the mangled operatives. As she glanced across the medical area, she noticed the lack of most medical supplies and the state of disuse of the remaining equipment, "What is this place?"

Iruka opened up a locker and handed her a hair tie, "Here, we won't want your hair showing. You do not want any sort of a stigma to be attached to you by being seen." She wordlessly collected her pink tresses back into a ponytail as he took his own ponytail out. It made sense. She was recognizable for her pink locks and he for his ever-present ponytail.

Once her hair was up, he handed her a black, full-length cloak and ANBU style black gloves. "You are of course familiar with ANBU; this is the ready room for a similar organization called MABU. I doubt you have heard of it, not many below the rank of jônin know that we exist." His use of the pronoun 'we' did not go unnoticed. He pulled on his own black gloves and full-length cloak. The only thing visible on him now was his face and a few dark tresses that escaped the hood of the cloak.

He tossed a blank white mask to her with the Kana characters 'Ma' and 'Bu' written on it. With a sigh, he gestured for her to follow him; he slipped his own much more worn mask over his face as he led her through the halls and through an intricate maze of corridors. As they approached people, ANBU quickly put masks in place, but even with faces hidden by porcelain, Sakura couldn't loose the impression they were watching the two figures. Conversations stopped as the two walked through the halls and whispered conversations started up in their wake.

The only exception to this was when they reached a room at the end of a corridor and walked in. There were three ANBU in the room, and while two of them acted the same, the taller one in a Falcon mask nodded to Iruka, "MABU-san." As he said it, he stepped away from the window that Iruka was heading towards.

Iruka nodded behind his mask, "Falcon-san" These were the first words he had spoken since leaving the ready room. They slipped out the window. He led her across the maze of often-traveled rooftops. Any shinobi they saw either looked in confusion or avoided them. The reason for her hiding her identity so fully was becoming incredibly apparent.

They came to rest near the memorial stone and Iruka walked towards it, placing a gloved hand on the smooth black surface. It was then he explained, "MABU operates in the shadows that ANBU will not tread. You have had kunoichi training, but we have much more training than that. MABU is the Mayakashi Senjutsu Tokushu Butai and as the name indicates, we use deception in all its forms in order to protect Konoha. The extent we are willing to go to will become apparent during the course of this mission. I must ask you to remember that what we do is for the village and to keep her citizens safe."

He turned to face her. "I know this is going to destroy the impression you have of me, but it can't be helped. This is going to be a very horrible mission and we will need a medic to patch us back together so that we can continue on." He started to walk back towards the direction they had arrived from, "I know this is not placing you in an easy position, and I am sorry for that. If you must address me while I am in this uniform, please refer to me as Faith or MABU-san. Secrecy is often the only thing keeping us alive." With that, he took off through the trees; leading her back to the same window they had left a short time ago.

Removing the cloaks and masks, they left the building. She had been given directions as to what to pack and what time to meet the rest of the team at the main gates. She was not sure about this. When she had entered the Hokage's office, she had thought this was going to be her chance to prove herself and take the chuunin exam again. She was getting her chance; she just did not know it was going to come with all of this extra responsibility and knowledge.

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When Iruka finally walked into his apartment, Kotetsu was sitting on the couch and Kakashi was in the kitchen making tea. He walked over to the spiky haired chuunin, "Least we know Izumo is all right." He put a hand on the other man's shoulder. In the three months Izumo had been on the mission, he had gotten all the details about the fight the two men had had before the mission. He knew Kotetsu blamed himself, and in Iruka's opinion, the blame was not misplaced. However, the chuunin was eating himself up about the indiscretion so badly that Iruka felt to say anything would be cruel.

He sat down next to Kotetsu, "We'll be in Suna within the month. A two to three week information gathering mission and then off to Suna and you'll get to talk to him." Iruka looked up as Kakashi walked in with a small tray with three teacups on it. Picking up one of the teacups, Iruka added, "When we get to Suna, I will make sure the two of you have some privacy to talk."

Kotetsu picked up a cup and starred into it before taking a sip, "What if he doesn't want to talk to me, I know I wouldn't want to talk to me. I just …" The chuunin shook his head, "Iruka, you wouldn't understand. When Izumo and I are on missions, he is almost always the one undercover with me being the one running the monitoring. That's hell."

Kakashi held up a hand, "'Ruka, why don't you get ready for bed, I'll handle this." Before Iruka could protest, Kakashi looked at him as if to ask for his love to trust him. With a nod, Iruka stood, "Of course. We have to leave early in the morning." With a last glance to the two other men, he walked into the bathroom to grab a shower. Even just wearing the MABU mask made him feel like he needed to wash something off of him.

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Kakashi turned to Kotetsu. "Look. What you did was wrong. You cheated on Izumo." Cutting short any protest from the chuunin, Kakashi continued. "At the same time, I understand how hard it is to listen to them work. I hate being teamed with Iruka, but I do it because I know he needs me and I would rather it be me covering his back than anyone else."

"Kakashi, how can you handle it? Hearing him have sex with another person and then making those same noises when he's in bed with you?" The chuunin's eyes were narrowed as he glared at the silver-haired jônin. "Why is that perfectly fine but I have one little fling while drunk, suddenly he's leaving me."

Kakashi frowned, "It's the same as if I walked into the village and killed someone. When it is the job, it is one thing. If you can't understand that, than maybe Izumo was right to leave."

Kotetsu's eyes widened as if he had been struck. Without a word, he stood up and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door on his way out. Kakashi stood and walked into his bedroom. He could only hope the chuunin was going to think over what he had said. This mission was going to be much too dangerous to have the other man distracted through it.

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Thank you for reading. As always, I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few jus slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Sand Stained Red – Chapter

Kakashi, Iruka, and Kotetsu met at the gates the next morning as if the night before had never happened. They were prepared to head out to Grass. Kotetsu frowned as they did final preparations for the mission near the main gate. Their destination was familiar to him and Iruka. They had been to that particular city in Grass many times on other undercover missions. It was dirty and seedy and full of the criminal elements that Grass country seemed to harbor and nurture these days.

Kotetsu watched as the pink haired girl walked up to their group. That child had no business being on this mission. That old bat of a Hokage had finally lost her mind. She was crazy to send a child of only fifteen into this. It did not for a second occur to him that he had only been thirteen when he first worked for MABU, no those times were different. That was after the fox attack, the village ranks had been decimated. Any similarity between then and how the village was still decimated by the Sand/Sound attack did not occur to him. Izumo, Iruka and himself had been broken before the ever joined MABU. The three of them had been damaged long before they ever even graduated the academy. This child was still as pure as any shinobi could be.

Her smile as she reached the three men made it hurt even more. Her pink hair was the same color as cherry blossoms in the spring and had no business going where they were going. He frowned as he looked over at Iruka. Kakashi stood close to his husband as they both pulled on their packs. Iruka shook his head at Kotetsu and Kotetsu simply nodded. He had been taking orders from Iruka long enough to realize that when the other man got that look, matters were not open for debate. He would have to accept the young kunoichi going on the mission with them, but he did not have to like it.

Kakashi raised a hand to greet his genin student, and the four-person team departed the village. The day was still very early. The colors of the sunrise still hung in the eastern sky as they headed west towards Grass country. They had plenty of time to get there, but Kakashi kept the pace quick. Quickly making their way through the tree branches, the four shinobi covered distance faster than should be humanly possible. Conversation was not something that Kotetsu wanted, and luckily, Iruka and Kakashi seemed to be of the same opinion. Sakura also seemed to pick up on the 'travel in silence' vibe that passed between the three men and she didn't speak either. The team moved in silence, the quiet only broken by the sounds of nature as the shinobi moved without a sound beyond the unavoidable rush of air.

They paused simply to drink water and eat ration bars before continuing on their journey. They wouldn't have a real meal until they camped for the night. The four had plenty of time, but there was still no reason to waste it. Finally, as the sun was setting, Iruka veered them off towards the side of their path. Kakashi followed Iruka without question. The ex-ANBU might be the leader of the mission, but Iruka was talented at finding camping sites in the forest. They landed in a small clearing without even a sound. The secluded thicket was nearly completely hidden by dense undergrowth. It was barely big enough to fit two tents, but there was a small spring a few feet away and it offered an easily defensible position.

Kakashi nodded as he took in the spot, "We'll set up two tents. Iruka take care of the campfire. Kotetsu, you and Sakura follow the water and see if we can get some fish or find some rabbits or something." Without further instruction from the team leader, Kotetsu walked out of the clearing and went off towards the water with the pink-haired girl close on his heels.

He turned to her as they approached the water, "Fishing or hunting?"

She was looking at him with a frown on her face, "Either. I am capable you know."

He paused, "I never said you weren't." His tone was strangely flat. He didn't want to have an argument. He just wanted to get this mission over with and travel to Suna and see how his Izumo was.

"Why is everyone acting like I don't belong on this mission?" She sounded frustrated. If he had been thinking clearly instead of worrying about his lover, he would have realized that they had been acting exactly how she was indicating. However, he knew she didn't belong on this mission.

He glared at her, "Hunting or fishing." It was no longer a question, but a demand that she answer him.

Her green eyes narrowed and her lips turned into a determined line, "Hunting." Her single word stood as a challenge to him.

Kotetsu simply nodded, "You go that way, and I'll go this way. Do not go more than a mile and meet back here in thirty." He tossed a kunai into the ground to mark the spot as if to emphasize he meant exactly right here. Without another word, he took off in the other direction.

His frustration would be taken out on prey. Channeling chakra to his nose, he let his sense of smell lead him. The Hagane clan had always been trackers. His nose quickly led him to his prey. His arm snaked forward, pinning a rabbit to a tree in mid-hop. He watched it's body twitch once, twice then still. Leaves were drifting towards the ground, loosened by the impact of the blade into the tree trunk. Swinging around he let loose eight more Kunai, each piercing a leaf before landing in another trunk. Standing there in the resulting shower of foliage, Kotetsu caught his breath. He had to keep it together. He just had to – for Izumo.

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Iruka looked to Kakashi as the other two left the campsite. "Am I being too hard on her?"

Kakashi walked over to his lover and wrapped an arm around him, "You will always see your students as young children and want to protect them." He sighed as he rested his head against the other man's head. "It's just how you are, and I hope you never change."

Iruka nodded, "You're right. I guess that Kurenai was right about that as well." He shot Kakashi a smile, "I guess we'll just have to our best to let our bad jônin selves protect her on this, huh?"

With a roll of his eyes, Kakashi answered, "Yeah, that's it. Get that campfire going while I set the tents."

Iruka smirked, "Yes, sir. You are in charge and all." With a return to the pleasant banter, they quickly readied the campsite. Two tents and a campfire were taken care of. Iruka used the same sealing technique that Kakashi had first seen Izumo use in order to create an odorless, smokeless fire.

Less than an hour later, Kotetsu and Sakura walked back into the thicket. Each of them carryied two field dressed rabbits. Dinner was cooked with very few words and the meat consumed along with some other rations from their packs. The sun was long set by the time the meal was consumed and everything was cleaned up. Iruka had first watch, Sakura second, Kotetsu third, with Kakashi on the final watch.

As Iruka settled in for his first shift at watch, Kakashi kneeled next to him, forehead to forehead to whisper a few words of reassurance before softly kissing his husband goodnight.

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Sakura hid her surprise at the affection between her former teachers. Sure, the entire village knew the two of them were together in some way. They often walked through the village together, drank together, and ate dinner together. And spent time with each other's friends. It was well known the two men shared the same apartment, and only the youngest of academy students believed the two were just friends. Sakura hadn't thought of it much, if it kept Kakashi sane and Iruka happy, what else could she want?

She was woken from her slumber by a brushing outside her tent. She could sense Iruka's chakra on the other side. She quickly slid out of her blankets and let the tent. A quick look around and she knew that Iruka took part of her shift. Instead of two hours before waking Kotetsu, she only had about one. "You didn't have to take part of my shift, sensei."

Iruka just smiled at her, "You need rest." He reminded her so much of back when she was his young student at the academy. The moments the man had been pampering back then were few and far between, but his job had been to prepare them to be shinobi. That could not be accomplished with pampering. This, however, was the same Iruka that had patched up cuts from practice weapons and dried tears.

She smiled at him, "Iruka-sensei, I am a genin and soon I'll be a chuunin, you don't have to treat me like a little child."

"It's an old habit. I will try and stop thinking of you as a little eight year old girl who has cut herself on a shuriken and has tears running down her cheeks though." He smiled softly at her, remembering how innocent all the little children that entered the academy were. It was an innocence they were destined to loose.

"You and Kakashi-sensei?" She asked it as a question as she watched him for a reaction. When he simply looked at her, an eyebrow raised, she continued, "The two of you are very cute together."

"Thank you. I had worried you would think poorly of it." He honestly sounded relieved that she didn't think there was something wrong with her two male former-teachers dating.

Pink hair shifted as she shook her head, "Of course not. I haven't seen either of you this happy before." With a tilt of her head she looked up at him, "Can I ask you something though?"

He nodded, looking at her seriously, "Of course. You can always ask me anything."

She paused for a moment and nibbled at her lip with her teeth before finally asking, "Why is Kotetsu so … angry? He is normally relaxed and teases people."

Iruka nodded as he thought how best too answer that, "You know Kotetsu and Izumo are lovers?" When she nodded, he continued. "They had a fight before Izumo's last mission. Izumo is overdue by two months and we just were notified he was recovered by sand shinobi. He is anxious to conclude this mission so he can see him again." He smiled at the girl. "Wake up Kotetsu a little late, all right? He hasn't been sleeping well for a while. I am going to grab a few hours of sleep with my husband before his shift."

He walked over to his tent not even noticing the surprised look on Sakura's face at the use of the term husband. Sakura watched Iruka's back as the man crawled into the tent. That explained a lot, both how her former sensei were acting around each other and how the normally carefree Kotetsu was acting. She settled into her watch, her mind drifting to wonder about what she found herself embroiled in. Evidently, a lot of things went on in the village that she did not know about.

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Come morning, the four shinobi took off again. They continued to travel at a fast pace, but not anything approaching the type of speed the older members of the team could do if needed. There wasn't a hurry so they allowed the abilities of the young medic nin to dictate their pacing. They would make the border of Fire and Grass shortly after sunset at this rate, which was perfect for what they had planned. Sakura was impressed by the efficiently of the three older members of the team. Seamlessly the switched who was leading and which was guarding the sides of the team. The hand signals were so subtle she nearly missed them several times. They were nothing like the obvious gestures her and her genin teammates had used.

Shortly before sunset, they paused on the Fire side of the border and took off all their items that marked them as Konoha shinobi. Kotetsu and Kakashi switching into dark pants and shirts. Iruka switched into jeans and a too tight T-shirt as he swapped his normal navel piercing for one containing a one-way radio transceiver. He didn't switch it on yet, but being prepared as never a bad thing.

Sakura changed into a simple short black skirt with a red top and threw her hair up into a ponytail. With simple changes, they all looked significantly different. Kotetsu had his facial bandage off. Without that white stripe across his face, the man looked very different. Iruka had his hair down and in the much tighter clothing looked nothing like the strict teacher he appeared as around the village. The biggest change was Kakashi though. Somewhere in her mind, Sakura knew that Kakashi did not always have that mask on. What she did not expect though, was for him to have changed into dark pants with a thin turtleneck. When he placed a pale grey blue contact over his Sharingan eye though, he didn't seem at all like himself. Her eyes widened as she saw her temporary team suddenly almost unrecognizable. She probably would have walked by any one of them in the street without a second look, and these were men she had known for years,

The continued into grass country, now much more stealthy and on higher alert. It was nearly eleven at night when they reached their destination. She watched as Kakashi suddenly started deferring to Iruka as they went through the shadows of the town. Even though it was late at night, many people were out at the many bars, gambling houses, and prostitution houses. In some cases a place they walked by was some combination of the three. When they approached a hotel, Kakashi and Kotetsu split off carrying Iruka and Sakura's packs while Iruka took her arm and led her in through the front door.

She stayed calm as Iruka paid for a room and received a key. The leering look of the man behind the front desk made it very clear what the room's purpose was assumed to be. Without another word, Iruka led her up the stairs and towards a room. He had only muttered a few words to the desk clerk, and Sakura had not heard them, but she was pretty sure they had confirmed the man's assumptions. In a town like this, that was probably the least suspicious reason to be renting a room.

Once the door was closed, Iruka walked over to the window and opened it. Packs were thrown in through the window and Kakashi and Kotetsu followed. Kotetsu and Iruka instantly set about placing seals and traps at the window and door, while Kakashi started to unpack some of the monitoring equipment. Within just a few minutes, the room was secured and two radio receivers were set up on a nightstand.

Sakura merely nodded when Iruka gently suggested that she should take a shower and get cleaned up. Stepping into the hot shower, Sakura was grateful for the consideration being shown her, but she did not want to be treated as if she couldn't help the team. She made up her mind to talk to Iruka about it as soon as she was clean and presentable again. She did not expect was for him and Kotetsu to be gone by the time she emerged from the bathroom. Kakashi glanced at her; he was sitting on one of the beds, listening to the receivers with an earpiece in each ear. "It's going to be a while before they get back. You should get some rest."

She nodded and dried her damp hair with a towel as she stretched out on the other bed. If Kakashi was sending her to bed, chances were that the others would not come back injured. She wished she knew what was going on, but it was obvious the three did not want her to know more than she needed to. Hopefully this would resolve soon and they would be able to head towards Suna. There was not much she could do, so she simply fell asleep. If anything did go wrong, being fully rested so that she could use all of her chakra to heal the rest of the team was her best option

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Iruka watched the girls back retreat into the bathroom. As soon as the door was closed, Iruka and Kotetsu were verifying their transmitters worked. Vials of poison were spread on the one bed and small containers hidden in tongue and lip piercing were filled. Antidotes to the toxins were added as eyebrow or ear piercing and quick flashes of chakra healed the new holes in the MABU agents' bodies. Iruka gave Kakashi a quick kiss and Iruka and Kotetsu disappeared out the window, leaving Kakashi to monitor their progress.

The two men landed in the alleyway behind the hotel and instantly were hidden in the shadows. They made their way into the city to follow up the information Izumo had found. The first night was just for recon. This was a dangerous place for both men. They had worked information sources in this haven of illegal activity too often to be sure they would be unnoticed. The bar that Orochimaru's agents were said to frequent was one that they had both been in before. Sure a few things had changed since they had last been there, but it was still familiar ground. They split up inside the bar. Both shinobi blending into the press of people in the smoke filled room. Iruka ordered a bottle of beer, but did not really drink it. It was a prop for the night. He would stick out without a drink and this was the most portable. Within minutes each of them were working the room, finding out who was who.

It took two hours, but they had the names of the people they needed as well as vague descriptions. The men they were looking for were not out tonight. However, they had managed to find out a lot of information with relatively little risk. It was not a huge success but considering they had not even planned on being able to patrol their first night in Grass, it was better than they had hoped.

Smelling of smoke and alcohol, both shinobi snuck back into the hotel room. Kakashi had opened the window to let them in. While Iruka put away all the piercing with their poisons and the ones with the antidotes, carefully making sure they would be ready to go again tomorrow, Kotetsu stepped into the bathroom to get cleaned off. When he crawled into bed next to Sakura, he smelt simply of hotel shampoo. Soon after, Iruka and Kakashi fell asleep in the other bed. The information that had been gained that night filled out while still fresh so that it could be analyzed the next morning. Relatively safe in the room with its wards and seals, all four shinobi fell asleep. This was as safe as they could be on a mission.

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Sorry for the short chapter. Next chapter is back in Suna so I couldn't tack on a piece of that to this to even it out. Also there will not be a chapter on the 29th I will be out of town and just will not be able to get it done enough in advance to be able to post it before I leave.

Thank you for reading. As always, I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto.

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre-time skip as well as a few just slightly post-time skip. The MABU universe diverges with canon events by not completely following post-time skip events. This fic does not contain spoilers for anyone up to date on the Japanese Anime.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as "Water Runs Red".

Additional note: Apologies for the long delay. I am back to writing this story, and think I have now gotten it past the part that was being difficult. The new update schedule is going to be alternate Fridays. If the writing starts moving fast enough, it will switch to weekly.

Beta by: Nobiki & Dawitch

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Sand Stained Red – Chapter 7

Izumo woke up once again in his Suna hospital bed. He turned his head to look over towards the young kunoichi sitting in the chair that had been brought into the room. He knew that she was a large part of the reason he could feel the burning pain in his leg, and he was very grateful to her. "Thank you, Ten-Ten. I did not even hear them enter to change the meds."

A smile spread across her face at the sound of his soft voice. She had grown to accept the fact that she could not tell when he was awake or asleep from his chakra patterns. Even Neji and Gai-sensei did not hide their patterns as well as the Chuunin she was guarding. "You were very tired, Izumo-san. I removed the same pain killer as before once the medics left."

He carefully sat up as the younger girl helped him. "I need to get ready for the meeting today with Kankuro-san and Gai-san." He started to unbandage his wounded leg. It was a painful looking collection of raw flesh and still painful burns. Izumo tentatively moved his foot in circles, seeing how well he could bend his foot and move his ankle with the injuries. Moving like that caused some of the half-healed wounds to reopen, and the girl carefully dabbed away the ooze and blood.

As they were testing how well he could move, the doctor who had been taking care of him during his stay, entered the room. The Suna Medic-nin strode into the room without knocking, walking straight over to his patient to see how badly the man had irritated his injury this time. He was obviously displeased that his patient was not following the direct orders to not use his leg. "I guess I will have to heal that some more before you injure it more." The man had spent too many years treating shinobi to be surprised that the leaf-nin was pushing it.

Izumo bowed his head to the doctor, "My apologies, and thank you very much." He watched as Dr. Komeda inspected the wounds, carefully manipulating the joints to check their movement before he began to let chakra flow into the leg, healing the tissue as his hands traced along the inflamed flesh. Ten-Ten watched the doctor work. She kept any mistrust of the man for being a foreign nin hidden behind a mask of rapt attention.

When the doctor removed his hands from the injured leg, the flesh was still pink and raw, but the wounds were mostly closed. Izumo tentatively set his weight on the leg. Testing how well the joints now moved, he took a few hesitant steps. It was painful, but he could stand it. He looked at the doctor as he bowed, "Thank you very much, doctor. You have been informed about …" He let himself trail off; if the doctor had been informed, he would know what Izumo was talking about.

"About your upcoming departure, yes of course." He also kept his words vague so as to not give away more information than necessary. "Considering everything, we will be performing a procedure tonight to heal your leg further." With a glance to the young kunoichi, he left the room, not even bothering to check the IV bag. He knew she had been tampering with the medicine. It was the only explanation for the injured man being as awake as he was.

Ten-Ten was looking at Izumo as if expecting him to explain that exchange; however, the older man only smiled. "I need to get ready, Ten-Ten-chan. Gai-san will be escorting me to a meeting in a very short time. Perhaps when I return, I will be able to help you with your scroll." His tone was calm as if he were just stepping out for lunch and not for an important meeting about what was sure to be crucial information -- if the secrecy involved was anything to judge by.

A frown flicked across her features as she moved to gather the pieces of his uniform. If she needed to know, she would be informed. She was still only a Genin and was well aware that sometimes she could not be told plans. The only thing about this that had surprised her was how much her scrollwork had progressed with only a few short hours of instruction from the injured man. She was now much more confident with being able to store her weapons in the scrolls and draw them out easily.

When Gai arrived, she was just handing Izumo his vest. With a quick bow to her teacher, she watched the two men leave. She had been hoping that she would be taken with them; instead, she was simply told they would return soon. There was nothing she could do then except wait and work on her scrolls. Perhaps, when he got back, Izumo would be able to help her some more.

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Kankuro spent the night readying all three of his puppets. He wasn't sure when they would be leaving. Tentatively, it would not be until the chuunin in the hospital had endured another procedure or two, but he had long learned that being ready was the best course of action. Traps were set, poisons refreshed, and antidotes packed. He stayed up late, carefully adjusting the delicate mechanisms of the puppets that his jutsu required.

The meeting was not until noon, so he was still able to catch a few hours of sleep between finishing his work on the puppets in the wee hours of the morning and having to be at the meeting that afternoon. Shortly before he had planned on getting up for the meeting, he woke to the sound of his sister knocking on his door. Her chakra signature was well known to him after the years spent being Gaara's watchers. Letting her in, he quickly started to pack up everything he had prepared the night before.

Temari stepped into her bother's mess of a room without comment or nicety. "Do you think the Leaf is telling the truth?" She leaned against a wall, since every flat surface was covered in small bits of puppeteering mechanisms.

He looked up from wrapping Karasu in bandages to frown. "It seems our brother believes him. Whether or not I do is not important." He strapped his favorite puppet to his back. He had more work to do on Karasu before leaving the village, so it was senseless to seal him in a scroll just to pull him back out again.

Temari shrugged, "I didn't ask what little brother thought, I asked what you thought. You've been poking around with that doctor. What do you think?" She leveled a glare at her brother, her green eyes narrowed to slits as she watched him.

Kankuro shrugged, "Nothing the Leaf-nin has said so far has been proven false. Everything we have discovered seems to confirm the man's story. However, I don't trust him. He's hiding too much, and this whole secret organization thing - that I don't believe."

Temari smirked as she held out a scroll, "You might want to read this on your way to the meeting. It seems Father had hidden information collected on this Leaf organization."

"Information?" Kankuro frowned at his sister as he walked over to grab the document from her hands. "Give that to me."

She huffed as he took the scroll, "Whatever. Talk to me before you leave though." She stalked out of the room, leaving him to look at the information she had found.

Kankuro unrolled the scroll as he stalked towards the meeting room with Karasu strapped to his back. As he walked, his frown grew. According to his father's information, twenty years ago, a single female MABU operative had infiltrated Suna and had stolen information which Fire Country then used to their advantage in the war with Rock. The loss of information had caused a breakdown in relations between Wind and Rock since the leaders of Rock Country had assumed that Suna had been working with Konoha to betray them. (1)

It was not until years after the end of the war that Rock had finally admitted that they did not have any proof that Wind had actually worked with Fire. Kankuro scowled as he stormed down the hall. He had not been involved in the hostilities that had erupted between Rock and Wind, but his father and uncle had both been drawn into the near-war and the years of tension. This organization the Leaf Chuunin worked in was responsible for decline in power of his country. This was not welcome news.

He slammed the door of the meeting room open to see that Izumo and Gai were already sitting at the table in the room. The scroll that Temari had given him was safely back in his pocket. He had no intention of giving away what he had learned, but neither would he act politely. These Leaf-nin were in his country. He had every intention of making them feel like the outsiders they were.

Izumo looked up as Kankuro arrived, his dark blue eyes flickering over the puppet user. There was no sign of the Kazekage yet, but Izumo unrolled the map he had quickly drawn, then stood, ignoring the fact that he was injured. With a quick, polite bow to Kankuro, Izumo gestured at one of the empty chairs. "Kazekage-sama should be here very soon."

Kankuro's eyes narrowed, the Kabuki makeup only making his expression seem even more threatening. Instead of taking the seat, he leaned against the wall, impatiently waiting for his brother to arrive.

The two Leaf shinobi ignored the action, instead merely sitting at the table as Izumo made a few minor alterations to the map. When Gaara walked into the room, Kankuro immediately moved to his brother's side as both Sand shinobi walked over to the table. Gai and Izumo stood as the Kazekage walked into the room, bowing as a sign of respect.

Izumo looked at Gaara, his dark blue eyes glancing from one brother to the other before speaking. "We have a course of action determined. I will be leaving tomorrow with your designated representative." At that point, his eyes glanced at Kankuro. "We will be running a small team, with only the Hyuuga from Gai-sensei's team. Gai-sensei, along with the other two members of his team, will remain here to keep an eye out for whoever is spying for Sound, as well as to cover for my disappearance from the hospital.

This was not how Izumo wanted a mission like this to start -- one MABU member and two people that had never before dealt with MABU matters. One of them was even a foreign shinobi. It was the best he had right now, and it was better to bring them than to go back into that place alone.

The briefing was finished. Izumo's hand-drawn maps of the village in question were passed around and the decision to leave the following morning before sunrise was made. They would leave dressed as Sand shinobi on a routine border patrol. Once the meeting was over, Gai and Izumo walked back to the hospital room. The older Jônin looked over at Izumo, "Neji and I will return in an hour. He is a fine shinobi. He will serve you and the village well."

The tiredness of the MABU operative was obvious as he nodded. "I know. He'll be a Jônin before long, and accepted into ANBU if that is his desire." He gave Gai a soft smile as he bowed his head. He still had some time to help Ten-Ten with her scroll before his guard would change and he could get some sleep.

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In the dead of night, three shadowy forms left the main gate of Suna. The official records showed that they were nothing more than a routine border patrol. They moved quickly. No one watching would know that one of the three was wounded. Every stride through the shifting sand sent pain radiating through his body, but he would not slow down. This was too important.

The thought of Orochimaru controlling the power of a Jinchuuriki kept the man running as fast as he could. It was enough that the one-tailed demon was in the control of Suna; for a force like that to be controlled by Sound would mean a massacre like the night of the demon fox attack. Izumo could not let that happen, even if preventing it killed him. His family had been slaughtered by the fox demon; he could not let history repeat itself.

It would be well past dawn by the time that they reached the town where they would base their operations. Long before they arrived there, the trio had stripped from their shinobi clothes and dressed as travelers. Their base of operation was set up in a hotel room not far from the Suna border, but still well into enemy territory. Few traveled to this area of the world, and ever fewer of those traveled for legal purposes. Three cloaked travelers did not raise much suspicion. They were just another group of shadowy figures in a town made up of shadows.

Izumo had not wanted for his partner on such a mission to be Kankurô. However, that was the only option. He moved through the bars in town with the Sand-nin as his shadow, the Hyuuga boy watching them both from the outside. He ignored any judgments the two were making about how he gathered information, and simply concentrated on getting the information they so desperately needed.

Three nights. Three nights was all it took before he found what he was looking for -- a loose-tongued man drowning in scars and loneliness who knew where Orochimaru's base was. It was delicate work extracting the location and details, but Izumo was very good at delicate. Facts were teased out with a combination of truth drugs and alcohol, but perhaps the most lethal weapons at the MABU agent's disposal were his soft voice and softer hands.

He sighed as he slipped from the man's bed. He paused, not saying anything into his radio. He knew there were two pairs of ears listening, but he needed a moment before he faced them. This was not a hotel he was in tonight; this was someone's apartment, their home. He glanced at the sleeping body in the bed. The man had fallen in with a bad crowd and had been useful to Orochimaru, just like how many others? He opened his dark blue eyes that he had not even realized had been shut and started to get dressed. The man had been gentle with him, soft and caring. Those were the ones that were hardest. The targets that slapped him around and forced him, those he did not feel guilt over. The ones that actually were gentle and cared were the ones that made his job difficult. He scrawled a note, saying he would meet the man at the same bar in two days. It was a lie, but it would buy them time to hit the installation.

When he left the building, two other people moved to his right and his left as they walked back to the cheap hotel they were based out of. They would get a few hours of sleep, but in the morning, they had a target to destroy. Neither teen said anything to Izumo about how he had obtained the information. They were both shinobi; they could not fault any methods that got results like that. They walked in silence, and Izumo's mind drifted. They needed to finish this mission so he could talk to Kotetsu, explain things to Kotetsu. Hell, Izumo just needed to see Kotetsu again, the rage that had caused him to take this mission in the first place long since faded.

The three filed into the room. There was much to do before they left the following morning. They would all be getting to sleep late, but the mission was more important than rest. All too soon, the sun would rise and they would be pressing farther into enemy country.

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Back in Suna, a young kunoichi had watched two comrades and an ally fade into the desert. She still stood watch in the hospital room. Everyone acted as if the injured Leaf-nin were still in the room; however, now it was empty. She continued to work on her scrolls, this time without anyone to help her. The room was strangely quiet without the reassuring presence of the Kamizuki. She had not even realized how he had made things seem safer, as if someone knew exactly what was going on and how to control it.

Now, she was in a strange hidden village, full of people she could not trust, and who did not trust her. One of her team was gone too, leaving her with only one teammate and her sensei, and he was gone almost all the time. He never told her or Lee what was going on, instead hiding his lack of an answer with a long speech about youthful curiosity. She sat in a chair looking out the window. The red sky loomed as another dust storm approached. She missed the clear sky and smell of the fresh forest that permeated her home. She could not relax here; the feeling of dread hung over her here. With luck, the mission would soon end and they would be on their way home – all of them.

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FYI for people who want to know, the operative who ran that mission twenty years ago was Kotetsu's mother, it is mentioned in a drabble about his background http:// scribblesitm. livejournal. com/ 11699.html (remove the spaces)

Thank you for reading. As always, I would appreciate if you took a moment to write a review.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Sand Stained Red  
Rating: M  
Summary: Once again forces are on the move. Who or what is threatening Konoha and her allies and can MABU forces discover and stop it? MABU is stretched thin with only Izumo on recon. Can he pull this mission off?  
Main Characters: Kamizuki Izumo, Hagane Kotetsu, Hatake Kakashi, Umino Iruka, Kankurou, Gaara & Temari  
Pairings: Too many to mention  
Status: Chapter 8 of A LOT

Beta by: Roninlvr

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto.

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre-time skip as well as a few just slightly post-time skip. The MABU universe diverges with canon events by not completely following post-time skip events. This fic does not contain spoilers for anyone up to date on the Japanese Anime.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as "Water Runs Red".

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Chapter 8 --

Another day broke and sunlight streamed into the shoddy hotel room the four leaf nin occupied. Hanuro Sakura woke up. She had actually gotten a good night's sleep. As she sat up, the man in bed next to her moved and started to burrow under the covers. The medic took pity and pulled a blanket over the man's eyes since he looked more than a little hung over. She glanced over to the other bed to see that Kakashi was already awake. He was sitting up and reading his book. This was about as unsurprising as the sun rising in the morning. What was unexpected in a way was how Iruka was curled up against him, still appearing to be sound asleep.

Sakura slipped out of the bed to begin the process of getting ready for the day. She had no idea what was going to happen, but it seemed like a good idea to be completely ready as soon as possible. She had never been on a mission that had such a strange timeline. Normally, she was used to getting up at dawn -- but this mission was different. She gathered a change of clothes and the other items she would need to get ready for the day. When she stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Kakashi was dressed in civilian clothes with the contact in place, looking completely normal, except for the scar over his eye of course. However, in a place as rough as this town, a scar was not the most identifying mark either.

Without a word, he gestured for her to follow him and the two walked out of the hotel room. Each bed had a vague lump that resembled a person, and it was obvious that they were letting those two sleep in. The girl followed her old sensei as they slipped out a back door and started to wander around the town. It seemed so different this early in the morning. The unsavory elements of the city were not to be seen and the two slipped into the crowd going about morning business without raising any suspicion.

They wandered around large portions of the city, seeming to not have a goal in mind but the young kunoichi quickly realized that they were casing the town. Without seeming to, they methodically walked through the town. They didn't do it in some sort of a grid pattern that a civilian would come up with, but more a random wandering that efficiently covered the entire area without seeming like that was what they set out to accomplish. The fact that her sensei was also picking up items for breakfast did not go unnoticed. Two hours had elapsed by the time that they snuck back into the hotel and returned to the room. Kotetsu was still a lump under the blankets, but the other bed was empty and the noises from the bathroom indicated that Iruka was getting ready. Not two minutes after the return, the bathroom door opened and Iruka stepped out clean and dressed.

Sakura was surprised to see that Iruka looked as if nothing had happened the night before. It made her think of the many times he had done missions and then been back at the academy when she was still his student and they had been none the wiser that the man had ever even left the village. "Good morning," she pleasantly chirped while Kakashi placed the food on the bed that Iruka had obviously made after waking up.

Iruka smiled back at his old student. Grabbing one of the bottles of juice that Kakashi had purchased, he answered, "A little later in the morning than I expected. Someone was supposed to wake me up about an hour ago." He didn't seem at all upset at the silver haired jounin, although in Kakashi's defense, he did have the decency to look properly chided for the offense. Iruka walked over to the bed that held Kotetsu and started to shove the other man with one hand. With Iruka sitting on the side of the bed, shoving about once a minute, it was obvious that he expected this to take some time.

Sakura walked over to the food and began to eat as she watched her old sensei nudge the other chuunin. "You know, you don't need to sneak off while I am out of the room to go looking for information." She didn't say it in an accusing tone, rather just a matter of fact, as if they should know that already.

Kakashi answered, "We just --"

"No, she is right." Some people might have found it strange that Iruka would have interrupted Kakashi, but strange seemed to be how things were on this mission. "Sakura, I'm sorry. You are right. You are part of this mission. However, we are under order to shield you as much as possible. Admittedly, that probably won't be much."

"Shield? Tsunade-shishou told you that?" Anger started to seep into her voice as she realized that all that Tsuande had said about her being ready for this was not the total truth.

"Sakura," Kakashi tried to reason. "She merely gave explicit orders that you were to act as medical backup on the mission to get information and not to go undercover."

"It isn't that she doesn't trust you, Sakura. This just … you're very young, even if you're capable." Iruka was trying his best to sound calm, but he knew he said something wrong when he saw Kakashi's look.

"With all due respect, Iruka," The lack of saying sensei was not missed by either man. "I have been a Kunoichi for several years now. I am no longer the thirteen year old girl you graduated. I am old enough to have risked my life how many times for Konoha?" Even if she had not been on the highest ranked missions, she was right. She had done C's and even an occasional B. She had been in danger and survived because of teammates and her own resilience and abilities.

Before Iruka could answer, the lump under the covers moved and Kotetsu finally made his appearance, "She's right." In the silence that followed, both sides were surprised that Kotetsu agreed with Sakura. He walked over to the other bed and started to dig through the food that Kakashi had brought back, finally finding a chocolate covered pastry and biting into it. "Kakashi, you were in ANBU by her age, and 'Ruke, be serious. At her age we had done how many of these missions?"

"'Tetsu, that isn't the point. Things were different back then." His eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend.

"How were they different? What the fuck was different. You're starting to sound like all those other assholes we put up with. Just 'cuz we missed the war with Rock, nothing we ever did was right because of that crap. Like things are different now. Know what? They aren't different. She saw how much of the village was taken out when Sound attacked? She was there when the old man died. Her fucking teammate left her like a piece of tra--."

"Kotetsu!" Kakashi was glaring at the chuunin. "Shut your mouth."

As Iruka put his hands to his forehead to try and hold back the headache, Sakura spoke up softly. "No, Kakashi. It's all right. He is right. I was lucky I was found by Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san before anything bad happened to me."

"It was the middle of Konoha." Iruka felt compelled to defend his old student, even if he had been furious when he had found out what the boy had done. He didn't notice Kotetsu's look when Sakura had mentioned Izumo. The recently woken up man dropped his chocolaty pastry and quickly walked to the bathroom. Iruka's eyes momentarily widened and he promptly shut up, hearing the bathroom door slam.

Sakura bit her lower lip while looking at the closed door. "That was my fault." She hadn't realized she had brought up the one thing they were not mentioning.

Iruka walked over to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's OK. You didn't do anything wrong. He's just…"

"Worried about someone he loves." She looked up at Iruka. "Someone whom he doesn't know how they are and whethere they'll accept his apology if and when he sees him again." She saw how Iruka's eyes widened as she spoke, unsure of how the girl knew that. "He mumbles in his sleep, sensei."

In the silence that followed, the girl walked over to Kakashi. "Perhaps, we should figure out how to get this mission finished as soon as possible? The sooner we are all out of here, I think the better we will all be."

Kakashi nodded. "They found out a lot of information last night…" He continued to explain the information. It was obvious that Sound was on the move and were planning something. Izumo's information had been flawless, but then it normally was. Sound was extending its tendrils of information towards both Konoha and Suna. The questions that needed to be answered were who were their targets and which would be hit first.

During the day, Kakashi and Sakura wandered around town, at night Kotetsu and Iruka gathered information. For three days the pattern was followed before Sakura woke up in the middle of the night to arguing in hushed tones.

Kotetsu hissed, "I don't care what Tsuande said. It's our best option for getting this mission taken care of."

"She's not going in there, 'Tsu. We'll figure out some other way of getting this done."

"I could track him back to his base." Kakashi's voice was calm as he tried to settle things down between the two arguing men.

"Look, she's a fucking shinobi, tell her to just suck it up and do it."

Kakashi was between Iruka and Kotetsu before the first punch could land. "Why don't you just ask her yourself. Your arguing woke her up a while ago."

She sat up in bed, looking over at the three older men. "What is it I need to do for the mission?"

The arguing started up again between Kotetsu and Iruka, but Kakashi silenced them. "The man we have been looking for has been located, and we have figured out his schedule. However, it seems there is a problem in getting him alone." Kakashi's gaze drifted to Iruka. This part of the mission fell under MABU control, so his lover was the one responsible, and thus should explain.

"Kurimaki Kenjiro is in charge of Sounds operations in this city. We've been casing the places he goes to, and we've managed to talk to him occasionally. However, neither of us can get him alone." He glanced over to Iruka before continuing. "Most people, you get them a little drunk, a few drugs in their system and anyone with the skills can seduce them. Sure people have little kinks and such. This one likes dark hair, that one light hair, men, women, whatever… None of it really makes much of a difference. This guy is different."

"He's sick." The disgust in Iruka's voice was obvious. Whatever was different with this man, it repulsed him.

"He likes girls." Kotetsu didn't seem to be bothered by it. He simply stated it like any other thing.

She looked at the men, "But you said things like that were not an issue for you."

Kakashi spoke up, "No. He likes girls. Not women. Girls. Young girls in particular."

Iruka muttered something that Sakura was rather certain was unfit to be repeated.

"We've tried everything we can to see if he has any interest outside of that, but nothing worked." Kotetsu shot a look at Iruka, "Look. We have her with us. We dress her up a little. He acts stupid and suddenly we have him separated and we can get the truth out of him."

"She's too young!"

"Iruka! We've been doing this since we were twelve and just out of the academy. She's fifteen and about to be a chuunin. How can she be too young if we weren't?"

"Because we were too young, idiot." As Iruka let his temper show, Kakashi put a hand on his lover's shoulder. "Look at how we all turned out, every last one of us is screwed up and only now getting things straightened out."

Sakura glanced at Kakashi before speaking. "Iruka, it'll be all right." She gave him a smile. "I'll do it. I have you guys to help me, so I know I'll be safe." She knew that the man felt that he needed to protect her, so she was hoping to disarm some of his problems with her helping the mission by appealing to his need to protect her.

"Tsunade said not to even think about it. If she finds out Sakura went undercover…"

"And you started to feel the need to put everything down on mission reports since when?" Kotetsu gave Iruka a skeptical look.

"Look, we can't ask Kakashi to lie."

"I only need to report on the parts of the mission that apply to my area. This is not my area." He didn't like the idea of Sakura going undercover any more than Iruka did. However, it really was the best way.

"It's settled then. I will take her out shopping. I know what that asshole was staring at. Just wake me up in the morning and I'll go shopping with her." He crawled into bed, feeling better now there was finally a way out of this mission.

"Why should you take her shopping?" Iruka sounded a little miffed.

"Cuz you're gay."

"I am not. I'm Bi."

"Kakashi? Is Iruka gay?"

"He did date Anko."

"Anko doesn't count."

"Hey!" Iruka stood up. "Why doesn't Anko count?"

Kotestus sighed, "Sakura? Do you think Anko makes Iruka not gay?"

"Do I have to answer that?" She smiled, appreciating what Kotetsu was doing. He had taken such a serious mood and turned it into something much more relaxed.

"I am … Anko counts!" He continued to sputter as Kakashi pulled Iruka to bed.

Sakura relaxed as Kotesu crawled into bed. The sound of Kakashi and Iruka talking about whether Iruka was gay or not was lulling her to sleep. She wasn't worried about going undercover that evening. She had seen enough to know that Iruka and Kotetsu knew what they were doing. Sure they argued, but she also knew the two men had been friends since they were little. She drifted off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that things would go well tomorrow.

Sakura walked towards the bar, her forged Identification created perfectly. The true genius of it was that the forged document, showing her age as thirteen, was poorly altered to show eighteen. She walked down the street, in an outfit a perfect combination of cute enough to be picked out by a thirteen year old, but slutty enough for the girl to be trying to look older. The carefully crafted end result was that she looked young and that she was trouble.

She knew she was being watched by two of the three men in the team as she approached the man at the door to the bar. She even managed to look shocked as she wasn't let in. The fuss she made with the man about getting in was perfectly timed though. Just as she was walking away after being told how badly altered her ID was, the target walked up.

Kenjiro had two of his men on either side of him as he walked up to the beat up looking building. His eyes focused on the girl with her obviously fake pink colored hair. Iruka had taken some brown hair dye and made the most convincing 'roots' to make it seem a dye job. She stuttered as he took her arm and spoke a few words to the man at the door who then let them in.

When she got into the building, she saw Kotetsu at the bar talking to someone. Even though he seemed distracted, she knew he was watching her. There wouldn't be a second of the night that she was out of their sight.

She was led over to a table by the man and found herself sitting at a table. As expected, the man was quickly trying to get her drunk -- luckily Iruka had given her a drug that counteracted the alcohol so she didn't have to even use a jutsu. She seemed perfectly civilian. She played the part of drunk though and was hanging off the man. Occasionally she caught sight of Iruka. He had made his way into the building and did not look happy, but between him and Kotetsu, she knew she was safe. The plan called for Kakashi to remain outside and keep an eye out for any unexpected people loyal to Kenjiro showing up. She knew Kotetsu and Iruka both had radios on. All she had was a one way transmitter.

There was no sign from either man that they heard anything bad from Kakashi, so she didn't resist at all as the man started to lead her out of the building. She giggled and she hung off his arm. He didn't think anything of her babbling. Of course, most of her babbling was about how strong he was and how handsome and such. The clues she fit into the dialog about their room number did not cause him to be at all suspicious.

The ring that they had given her was brought up against the back of his neck, the contents hidden in the needle knocking the man unconscious on the bed in seconds. It seemed as if the three men appeared instantly, suddenly moving into action. Drugs were given and information extracted. Sakura sat and watched them work. It seemed to take such a short period of time. Names, locations, everything was revealed.

She sat on the chair in the hotel room, just listening as a plot to capture her friend and teammate was revealed. How Orochimaru wanted the Bijuu in him for some purpose this man didn't know and Iruka pressed him very hard to find out what Orochimaru was going to do. Locations of agents that had reported seeing Naruto with Jiraiya and that they knew the Jinchuuriki was returning to Konoha very soon. She couldn't believe how much Sound knew about her friend, no, how much this man knew. If a tool of the Sound village knew this much, than Orochimaru must know so much more.

When they left, the man had been stripped and shoved under blankets. He had been a given a drug to make him sweat and another to make him forget the recent events. He was left with every cause to believe he had had a very good time in that room instead of the interrogation he had really gone through.

That night, Sakura took a very long shower. She knew that when Iruka and Kotetsu went undercover they risked much more than she had. They would have to remain in town for a few more days to make sure that the plan worked and no one suspected anything. Part of her knew that was her fault. If she had been able to risk more, then there would be less chance of him knowing that something was wrong and they would have been able to leave that night instead of needing to wait those extra days. The reason that Kotetsu was anxiously waiting for the next three nights for the all clear so they could leave was because of her.

Kakashi had sent one of his summons back to Konoha to inform the Hokage that they had to delay Naruto's return. For him to show up in Konoha before they were able to take care of the sound threat was just too great. All the other information was also passed on. Hopefully, Jiraiya would be able to avoid detection better with more information.

Finally, they were able to leave that town and continue towards their destination, Suna. It seemed so far away, yet finally they were actually going there. The pace was fast and the girl could not complain. She had already delayed Kotetsu from seeing Izumo for too long,. She would endure exhaustion and sore muscles for that meeting to happen just a little bit sooner. Soon, she would be preparing for the chuunin exams too. Things were changing so fast.

A/N, I know a long awaited chapter, but woo hoo! Chapter. I know the primary POV in this probably surprised people, but … I think it worked,


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